Greedy Little Birds

The Olson's sitting at the table last night enjoying a quiet dinner together...
Bear says "no way! What the ....?"
Becky says "what, what, what?"
Bear says "the birds are stealing our insulation!"
Becky says "what? how are they getting it"?
Bear says "they are stealing it out of the roof!"

So those greedy little birds are taking our insulation to make their nests! Bear saw a bird fly off and drop a piece (or 100) in the yard as it flew off. We look outside and this is what our yard is scattered in! Little thieves! So the discussion of why they can get at the insulation turned into...the gutters broke due to the ice dam we had this winter...the gutters broke and ripped some of the facia off the house...the ice dam is caused by heat loss...we are losing heat because the house is old and needs to be re-insulated...which means my husband wants to remodel the whole upstairs...gut it to the studs are reinsulate and put up new...which means I would get the bathroom I've always wanted up there, but also means the 100+ man hours I put into painting the murals on the boys' bedroom walls will be gone...I actually teared up thinking about that part. I am not doing all that work again and they are too young to even remember that I did it in the first place, ahhhhh

April Cousins

The Griswold's (Crappy) Trip to the Zoo

We, meaning I, decided that for my Birthday I wanted to pack up 2 kids and drive half way across the state to go to the MN Zoo. We, again I mean I, decided it would be best to leave after supper so they could be awake for awhile in the car and then fall asleep perfectly around bedtime and we would transfer them peacefully to their beds when we arrived at our destination. Well...we pack up, leave an hour late, have a 2 year old that refuses to fall asleep in the car until 9:30, and we only make it to Hinkley! Our destination was Apple Valley. So, I go in to the Casino to get us a room and they conveniently only have jacuzzi suites left (yeah right!) so I put a $120 on my credit card, we get outside to bring in all of our crap, and manage to do it with 2 kids in tow, in one trip! I love my new stroller. We put both sleeping kids in the stroller and carry everything in. People were obviously staring at us-we frequently refer to ourselves as the Griswold's. We transfer the kids to their beds-still sleeping-I take advantage of the $120 bathtub in the corner of our room and then drift off to sleep. I wish I could say we all slept peacefully but NO. Parker changes positions in bed 100+ times a night, he grinds his teeth, snores and drools! He does kidney blows all night and uses me or Bear as a pillow. It was awful. If I had fit in the playpen I would have slept with Emmitt. We wake up bright and early-all of us stuffed up-because it's a casino and our room was "non-smoking". Parker wakes up wanting to go swimming and we lie to him and tell him we have a pool right in our room! Too cool for him, we was so happy! I don't think he even realized that none of us had our swimsuits on. (I wonder how old he will be when we can't lie to him anymore?). We get packed up in as many layers as we can, because the beautiful 65 degree weather we were supposed to have, hasn't arrived yet and it's 40 degrees out! Brrrrr...we get everything out to the car in one trip again. This time the kids are awake, Parker is on his "monkey leash". Yes, I put my kid on a leash. It is a monkey backpack/leash. The tail is our handle. He thinks it's cool and after last fall at the library, I have a new found love for leashes! We get to the zoo, Emmitt is screaming hungry in the parking lot as we try to set up the stroller and jam as much stuff in the undercarriage as possible. Bear is swearing under his breath about why we go anywhere. I laugh and ask him if he wants another kid? I think we all know the answer to that one! So we get in the zoo...and immediately I start mapping out our day so we don't miss anything. We visit the monkeys, then off to the underwater area so I can find a place to feed Emmitt. Parker loves the dolphins and sharks. By the time we get Emmitt fed, we are 2 minutes late for the Dolphin show and there is no room for us to sit inside and watch it. Great. So bundle up again and decide to walk the trails outside. Freezing our butts off. We walk 80 miles to see all the animals. Parker keeps asking "where are the animals". Well it's so cold out they are all 100 feet away up in the bushes, sleeping! I swear every animal was sleeping. Nothing but the buffalo were up and walking around. The best part of the zoo was the baby farm animals. So cute. Of course our kid is scared to death of baby goats but he'll get over it soon. He liked the pigs...and the cows were stinky. We start heading back to the main part and it starts raining. Great. "didn't you bring the rain guard for the stroller" of course I didn't! So I run the 80 miles back to the building, pushing the stroller-wearing crocs-we are soaked! We head inside for lunch, change 2 poopy diapers, feed Emmitt and again miss the show we had planned to go to! We decide to walk the bird trail and Bear ends up carrying Parker the whole way! We sit on a bench, where Parker has the most fun putting change in the swirly thing. Change 2 more poopy diapers, feed Emmitt again and Bear and I look at each other and decide it's time to leave. I look at my watch and we had been at the zoo for a total of 3 hours! It felt like 10. So we head to WI to stay with my sister and her family. Ahhh, relief. The kids nap in the car and we veg and hang out all evening. Parker has a blast with his cousins. Emma was on potty patrol all weekend and Parker did really good with her. Pete showed him "how the big boys do it". They played and had a blast all weekend.

Sunday, the actual day of my birthday, we spent in the car, but it was relaxing. We got home and people came over to deliver birthday wishes to me. It was a great weekend-minus the zoo-but live and learn. We discussed going to Disney World on the car ride home and came up with-when Emmitt is 10, we'll go! People who take strollers, diaper bags, playpens, etc...are CRAZY!

Scared to death of the mama goat!

Parker thinks money comes out of the water machine magically...daddy watches a woman put her dollar in the machine and then never make a selection because her kid (who is not on a leash I might add) takes off running. She never comes back, so the machine spits out her money in change down the shoot. Bear looks around, gets up, and "steals" that poor woman's money. He then gives it to Parker to put in the swirly change game! Parker runs out of money and walks over to the water machine and sticks his greedy little fingers in the change return and asks us "where'd the money go?"

My kid with a monkey on his back

The cousins have a sleepover in the living room.

Whose Who?

I get the question "do the boys look alike?" My answer: they do and they don't. Bear and I both think they are a good mix of both of us. Of course they both have my eyes: Parker's dark brown and Emmitt's still a blue color. We currently have $100 riding on whether they change to brown or not. I say yes, Bear says no. He just wants blue eyes like his. Parker definitely has the Rosten nose-aka grandma Janet's, daddy's, uncles, etc...Emmitt's kinda looks like he has my nose. People who know me more say they both look like me, especially Parker. People who know Bear say Parker is a mini Barrett. I really didn't think the boys looked that much alike until I walked past a photo on Blake's fridge and saw the New Year/Baby announcement card we made up for my in laws to send out...and it was of Parker at 6 weeks old. It looked just like Emmitt! Bear and I just stood looking at it and laughed. Same smirks, same eyes, same hair color, etc...So I tried to take a pic of Emmitt in the same shirt-of course I couldn't get him to do the same look but here they are.

Today in History

April 20 – Today In History
1770-Captain Cook discovers Australia

1841-Edgar Allen Poe's first detective story is published.

1861 - Robert E. Lee officially resigned from the U.S. Army. He would later command the Confederate forces in the Civil War.

1918- The legendary Red Baron claimed his 79th and 80th victories.1935 - “Your Hit Parade” made its debut on radio!

1971 Barbra Streisand records "We've Only Just Begun" and US Supreme Court upholds use of busing to achieve racial desegregation
1972 Apollo 16's Young & Duke land on Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover #2
1974 Paul McCartney releases "Band on the Run"
1977 - “Annie Hall” starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton opened today.
1980 Cubans begin to arrive in US from Mariel boatlift
1990 Pete Rose pleads guilty to hiding $300,000 in income
1992 100th episode of "Murphy Brown" airs
1996 Chicago Bulls win record 72 games in a season
1998-Bill Gates' promo on his new product Windows 98 goes wrong...it crashes during his presentation
1999 - The massacre at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado resulted in the deaths of 12 students and 1 teacher, wounding 25 and eventually shooting themselves.


Sharing A Birthday Today…
Bruce Cabot who starred in the original “King Kong” and “The Green Berets” was born in 1904.
Veronica Cartwright who appeared in “Alien” was born in 1950.
Carmen Electra who appeared on TV’s “Baywatch” and in the films “Starsky & Hutch” and “Scary Movie” (and “Scary Movie 4”) was born in 1972.
Crispin Glover who appeared in “Back to the Future” and “Twister” was born in 1964.
Adolf Hitler the former Fuhrer of Nazi Germany was born in 1889.
Clint Howard who appeared in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and as Johnson in the “Austin Powers” movies was born in 1959.
Jessica Lange the Oscar winning actress of such films as “Tootsie”, “Rob Roy” and “Sweet Dreams” was born in 1949.
Joey Lawrence who starred on TV’s “Gimme A Break”, “Blossom” and “Dancing With the Stars” alumni was born in 1976.
David Leland the man behind the camera for the miniseries “Band of Brothers” was born in 1947.
Lara Jill Miller who starred as Sam on TV’s “Gimme a Break” was born in 1967.
Ryan O’Neal who starred in “Love Story” and “Paper Moon” was born in 1941.
Leslie Phillips who starred in “Venus” and as the voice of the Sorting Hat in the “Harry Potter” films was born in 1924.
Edie Sedgwick the actress/model and muse for Andy Warhol was born in 1943.
Andy Serkis who appeared in the “Lord of the Rings” movies as Gollum/Smeagol was born in 1964.
Steve Spurrier the renowned football coach of the University of Florida and the University of South Carolina was born in 1945.
George Takei the actor best known for his portrayal of Sulu in TV’s (and the movies) “Star Trek” was born in 1937. Some reports have the year as 1940.
Luther Vandross the singer of such hits as “Here and Now” was born in 1951.


We Said Goodbye To…
Benny Hill the infamous actor/comedian passed away in 1992 at the age of 68.
Pontiac Chief of the Ottawa Indians died in 1769 at the age of 49.
Rick Rood best known to wrestling fans as “Ravishing” Rick Rude passed away in 1999 at the age of 40.
Don Siegel the man behind the camera of “Dirty Harry” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” passed away in 1991 at the age of 78.
Bram Stoker the author of “Dracula” passed away in 1912 at the age of 64.


Top Of The Charts On This Day In…
1957 - “All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley
1974 - “The Sound of Philadelphia” by MFSB
1991 - “You’re In Love” by Wilson Phillips
2002 - “Foolish” by Ashanti
2002 - On The Country Charts – “My List” by Toby Keith


Memorable Sports Moments In…
1912 - Two renowned baseball stadiums officially opened today. Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts had its first professional baseball game when the Red Sox defeated the New York Highlanders by a score of 7 to 6. The second park was Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.
1986 - Michael Jordan set a new NBA scoring record when he garnered 63 points in the Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics game.

Random Post

• I am totally ticked off that my Aussie got voted off American Idol! That Kristy Lee Cook NEEDS to go-she is terrible. It is the Sanjaya of '08! Okay-update...so glad she is GONE now!


• I am still suffering withdrawl from missing Grey's...by the time they come on 2 weeks from now, they'll show 2 episodes and then the season will be over until Fall. Why bother getting us all hooked again, just to leave us hanging.


• When will my baby sleep through the night? 3 nights in a row he gave me: 8 pm-12/1am-4/5am. Which is essentially getting up once or twice...then last Friday, BANG! 8 pm-11pm-2am-4 am-6 am-8 am-growth spurt? atleast he did it on a weekend night so I can be a zombie all day!


• is 28 really that old? I had a hard time last year turning 27-I think since it is nearing 30 which still seems old to me...and maybe because I can really say "10 years ago..." meaning, 10 years ago I was still in high school, 10 years ago I started college, 10 years ago I was just 18...ahhhh! Atleast I have accomplished the things I feel are important. I have been with the love of my life for 11 years, I have "owned" a house for 4 years, I own my own business, I use my college degrees everyday for my job, I have 2 beautiful boys, I am healthy, I am happy, I have traveled the world...I have a great life!

My Birthday Wish

April 20, 1980

Happy 28th Becks!

My Birthday Wish: Laughter

Your Job: Tell me a story, via posting a comment, about us or me that is going to make me laugh.

Funny Onesies

~We have gotten some really funny onesies for Emmitt~

• It's not a milk belly it's a fuel tank for a poo poo machine-totally true!
• handsome, charming, just like daddy-of course!!
• when god made me he was just showing off-you bet he was.
• talk about me, me, me from Toby Keith!-Davina knows TK personally AND knows I love him
• Automatic Sprinkler-totally true that first month-we really lost count on how many times we got peed on!
• baby massage-it's a onesie you put on the baby and then massage the areas to combat the problem-ie, gas, tired, fussiness, etc...

Smile Evolution-during a diaper change

Let me take you through our first morning diaper change...crank up the pitch in your inner ear to the one labeled "annoying high pitch mommy voice". Here goes...

"good morning Emmitt, are you gonna smile for momma?"

"oooh, there's a little one, can you smile big for momma?"

"that's my boy!"

"do you have another one for me?"

"well, there you go, look at how big you smile for momma!"

"good boy Emmitt, momma loves when you smile so big for her, thank you!"

I love the wide open mouth smiles...I hate the voice I have to do to get him to do it though, I wish there was a way to block out my voice on the video camera-that is embarrassing to hear!! I want to know if I really sound like that??

Parker on the Potty!

Okay so last night, Parker comes up to me and nonchalantly says, "momma, I have to go potty". So I get his pants off, he takes off his diaper himself and then says he needs his socks off too...so I take them off and I leave him in the bathroom to finish working on supper. Pretty soon I check on him and he has crawled up on the toilet with his feet on the step stool and is just sitting there. Now occasionally he pees on the potty which involves sitting backwards straddling the toilet and peeing "like daddy" aka 'standing up'. But no Parker is sitting on the toilet...so I go back to supper and he comes out and says "I pooped on the potty"! I think I even said under my breath "no you didn't" I almost couldn't believe it! He pooped on the toilet! I start clapping and cheering for him, he is grinning. Daddy had just walked in the door to witness this momentous occasion and gives him high five. So I reward Parker with the best bribery trick I know which is a present out of the present bag...I had gone to the Dollar Tree last week and blew $30 on crap toys for him to have when he goes on the toilet...so he opens up a sticker book and Cars stickers. He is so excited, and so are we! Could this be an end to 2 kids in diapers? So I ask if he wants a diaper on or underwear...he says underwear. Okay, underwear it is. We call a few people to praise him up and make a huge deal out of pooping on the potty.
Fast forward to after supper:
Parker gets done eating and stands by our chairs and pees on the floor, well in his underwear. All the while saying, "I'm peeing". NOOOOO!
So I clean him up and say it's okay, but your supposed to pee on the toilet.
I, stupidly, ask again: diaper or underwear? He says underwear...I say no peeing in them..."O'tay" says Parker.
I am up stairs feeding Emmitt and hear daddy say...oh no, oh no, oh no. Not only did he pee in his second pair of underwear he pooped in them too! Luckily daddy got to clean that one up!
So-now what? Continue to see if he tells us when he wants to go, or do I ask and ask and ask "Parker do you have to go potty?"

How can I?

How can I leave them and go back to work?



Aren't they looking at me like that? Mom, how can you...

Sometimes It Snows in April

This is actually my favorite Prince song...and as a MN boy, he knows "sometimes it snows in April"

BUT, I am ready for it to be gone so I can go back to enjoying Spring...which is my least favorite season!

Alleluia!

IT'S HERE! My new Phil and Ted's stroller has arrived! And I have already used it...twice!

I am loving the weather right now, unless we get the 7-14 inches of snow that is predicted for us today and tomorrow. I may cry if that happens.

So Tuesday was the first outing in the stroller and mommy's first try at taking two kids out on a 1.5 hour long walk. It went well. Parker sits up front and Emmitt lays "under" him in the back. The only thing Parker didn't like was the shield covering him. So I took it off midway through the walk and told him he could freeze! I actually said "fine, you can freeze then!" He was kicking it the whole way and whining about it so I caved in and tried not to feel guilty about it.

Emmitt slept through the whole walk. He only woke up once to squawk and that was when we stopped moving long enough to say goodbye to Auntie Tammy.

Then last night we bundled up and walked down to the park. Parker played for a long time and Emmitt just slept in the parked stroller by himself. It was nice to just play with Parker one on one. Also nice that I have a super happy baby who is very laid back.

This is recent too! Emmitt visited Dr. Potter last week, Monday and Wednesday for a back cracking...or adjustment. He was showing us signs of colic like Parker did and we were not about to go through that again. I just wished we would have taken Parker to the chiropractor when he was little! But I had asked around if people had taken their babies and most who had said the same thing...do it, it WORKS. And guess what-It does work...Emmitt has not really had a "fussy" period since. Dr. Potter actually showed me where his back was out of alignment-in two spots-and then put them back in. The actual treatment was Emmitt laying on his belly across the Doc's knees. He used his fingers along Emmitt's spine all the while opening and closing his knees-which acts as the traction part of the adjustment. It was cool. I knew he wasn't hurting him because Emmitt just grunted and moaned through the procedure. Doc said they actually like it-and you could just tell he did. So for any of you new parents out there with a cranky baby-go to the chiropractor and then tell me about it!