I love Pinterest.

Usually, I just look at the pictures, but every once in a while, I am inspired to make something. (note, I am not crafty)

Yesterday seemed like a great day to make these.

You know, suncatchers made out of crayon shavings.

So, I rounded up some crayons and attempted to grate them using my hand grater.  Not a good idea.  Then I got the idea to use my food processor. Seriously. Even worse idea. I ended up using a vegetable peeler to make little shavings.

Then Ruby “carefully” sprinkled them on some wax paper.

And topped it with another piece of wax paper.

I covered it with a towel and ironed it to melt the crayons.

Ours did not turn out all stained glass looking and colorful. Ours turned out like a bad Rorschach blot.

We made the best of it, and cut it into heart shapes. We are really limited by my inability to draw or cut a heart. (also by the visible tape)

Oh well. Our house is now 100% decorated for Valentine’s Day.

Last night, Sister and I planned a night out with our friend Adrienne to recap the wedding. Actually, Adrienne and I planned it,and just brought Sister along. Adrienne was kind enough to be my surrogate sister while my real one was on her honeymoon.
We picked Adrienne up at her cute little  (but not really little) house. We quickly arrived at our destination, Masu Sushi. We aren’t really sushi eaters, but they make these things called robata- little skewers of grilled stuff. We like everything that is wrapped in bacon, but our favorite is the bacon wrapped quail eggs. After we ordered, Adrienne pulled this beauty out of her bag.

Guess what! It was for me!
I felt bad ripping it open, because Adrienne is such a meticulous wrapper.
What was inside?

Squee!!!
For me!!!
(I should clarify that while Adrienne is a lovely and generous friend, she didn’t just give me her camera. My amazing hubby conspired with her)

After that big surprise, we ate some delicious ramen soup. I spilled enough on the neck of my sweater to smell it all the way home. Then we tried our hands at “pachinko “, which none of us were good at.

By then it was time to head home. After a quick tour of Adrienne’s house, we were on our way.
When I got to my house, I discovered my borrowed “Manny” snuggled up with Rex on the couch, and my house was far cleaner than I had left it.
On the agenda for today – figure out how to adopt the Manny, and figure out how trip turn my camera on!

Husband and I had a discussion about what types of things we wanted to buy while we were honeymooning in Jamaica.  I was very adamant that the only thing that I wanted to get while we were there was a wood carving.  I have seen one that I loved and wanted to get one similar to it; two people carved together in an embrace.

So…Husband and I took a walk on the beach in search of the perfect carving.  We stopped at a place that had a crazy amount of carvings in a tiny shack but unfortunately the owner was a bit too drunk to do business with (at 10am).  Later that day, we hit the downtown craft market.  This is something I do not suggest doing unless you have a bodyguard with you!  It was insane.  Vendors meet you in the parking lot and literally drag you to their stalls…which all sell the same things.  No luck finding the carving I wanted there either.

With just a few days left of vacation, I was beginning to get a little annoyed that I couldn’t find what I wanted and that Husband didn’t care at all.  So, I struck up a conversation with our pool guy and asked where the best place to find what I wanted was.  Turns out I had talked to the right guy!  Roan, the pool guy, just happened to have a good friend that did carvings so he could set something up for me.

I described what I wanted to Roan who seemed to know exactly what I was talking about.  Although at one point he asked me if I wanted one with the penis showing…which is not what I wanted at all.  One afternoon, Roan tracked me down on the beach and had his carving buddy on the phone.  I then attempted to do some negotiations to get what I wanted.  Let it be known that I am not a negotiator at all.  The conversation went a little something like this:

Me: “Uh. I just want a couple embracing.  Like hugging.”

Carver: “Yeah, Mon, no problem. I can do that. How much you wanna spend?”

Me: “Uh, I have no idea.”

Carver: “Well, how big you want it, Mon?  I can do a 12 inch one for like $120.”

Me: “Uh.  Ok, sounds great.  Bye.”

So anyway.  That didn’t go so well…and as soon as I hung up the phone I got a little sick feeling that I was going to spend $120 on something that I didn’t really want.  And then I had to tell Husband…and he was appalled.

Fast forward two more days to the discreet meeting down the beach from our villa.

Carver: “Yeah, Mon.  I need more money…this was a lot more work than I thought.”

Me: “Uh.  I don’t have any more money.”

Carver: “Well, Mon, I need to take care of Roan for helping us out here, too.  I need more money.”

Me: “Uh.  I don’t have any more money.”

Long story short:  I handed over $135 dollars (plus tipped Roan later).  And got my carving.  Then I walked back to the villa and felt like a huge idiot (and maybe cried a little bit) because this is what I got:

And the morning that we left, Husband was nice enough to buy this for me on the beach for $15 which is a little bit closer to what I wanted in the first place.-lindsay**

For my birthday, just one short week after being married, my new Husband neglected to get me a card.  But…he did take me to Jamaica for our honeymoon so I guess the card thing isn’t that big of a deal!

Our flight was scheduled to leave really early in the morning which meant that we needed to get to the airport really, really, really early in the morning due to my strange airport phobia.  We treated ourselves to First Class tickets and apparently, that’s the way to fly.  I don’t think I would have such a problem with crying in airports if I got to fly First Class all the time and never had to wait in a line.  I’m sure this was my only chance at flying in style…but I took full advantage of it…like by drinking wine at 9am and requesting several extra blankets and pillows. 

This was the view from my seat.We arrived in Jamaica and were picked up and whisked away for a 1.5 hour bus ride to Negril.  Lucky for us, there was a stocked cooler of delicious Red Stripe for us to enjoy en route!  Mmmm…beer.  Anyway.  When we got to our resort we were greeted with fruity drinks and led right to our villa where our chef had already prepared us jerk chicken for dinner.  What a life! 

The rest of the week pretty much passed as follows: get up, go to pool, eat breakfast, go to beach, drink beer, go for a walk, back to beach chair, eat lunch, drink beer, back to beach, drink beer, shower, eat dinner, drink beer, sit in hot tub, drink beer, watch tv, sleep.  I did read 5 books while I was there.  Husband caught up on all his Law and Order episodes.

Husband and I are not a very photogenic couple.  I also used a new camera that has potentially eaten most of my pictures.  But here are some pictures anyway:

I can’t wait to convince Husband that this needs to become an annual trip! 

Next up: How Not To Buy a Souvenir… 

-lindsay**

This is a few days late, but not as late as the 3 turned 4 month pictures I finally had taken yesterday.
With R¹, we had pictures taken every month. His baby book is filled out until his 6th birthday.
R² had pictures taken at 2 weeks, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. Her baby book doesn’t have any pictures in it, but it does have important milestones.
R³? Nothing.
At 4 months, Rex weighed in at 18#,4oz, and was 26.5 inches long. He is by far my largest baby.

Rex likes to eat. He still insists on eating every 2 hours, including at night.
Rex can roll from his tummy to his back  (1/2/12), and from his back to his tummy  (1/12/12).

He likes to hang out in his exersaucer.

He spends a lot of time on his activity mat.

He’s a pretty happy, easygoing guy.

If only he’d sleep….

Personally, I had the best New Year’s Eve ever this year: I got married!  Finally, after a lovely three year engagement and years of planning two months of vigorous planning…the Husband and I had a perfect (to us) day!

It all started out like this:But luckily my stylist is talented enough to make me look like this: Hanging out with my soon to be hubby pre-ceremony: Then to the bar to celebrate when it was all over: (Unfortunately, a few too many adult beverages were consumed in too few minutes.)

Our grand entrance at the reception (classy, I know): Followed by a really long night of dancing: 

(At least I think my mom is dancing.)

(Body surfing is the “new” dancing.)

And at the stroke of midnight the elusive, world-famous blogger, Mama M.,appeared:

(Actually, she was there all night!)

My sister was even there: And then it was all over.  The end. 

PS- I did really have the most wonderful wedding party ever, it wouldn’t have been such a great day without my best bridesmaids and personal attendants(and everyone else!) there.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of them to prove their presence but that may change one of these days.

And if you want to get a different perspective and really funny blogging, head over to my wonderful cousin Jessica’s blog right HERE!

I’d just like to also say that I never have my own camera with me, so all of these pictures are stolen borrowed from the 3 or 4 fabulous people that posted them on Facebook. 

-lindsay**

Welcome back Friday! It’s more like a Monday for me, hubby and Ross are in North Dakota for the weekend, leaving me home with the littles.  Seems like it could be a long weekend! Rex and I are heading out for his 4 month pictures, then we are planning a pit stop at Trader Joe’s to stock up on hibernation food.

Guess what? It’s time for Five Question Friday!

This is my kid on a normal day:

This is my kid doped up on acetaminophen:

And this is my kid when the medicine wears off:

We’re sick of being sick.  Luckily no one gets sick very often in our house (besides migraines and Husband hysterics). 

Sorry for the blurry photos- my skills are limited to my cell phone. 

-lindsay**

The other night, I asked my kids what they wanted for supper. Those who can speak are huge iCarly fans, and they asked for spaghetti tacos. I looked on Pinterest for a recipe without finding one, so I made my own. I had all of the ingredients in my cupboard.

1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn
1 can black beans
Taco seasoning
Taco shells
Spaghetti

If I had an onion, I would’ve started by sauteeing it. But, I didn’t. So, I dumped the tomatoes in the frying pan and cooked them at medium heat. While they were cooking, I started the water for the spaghetti.
Then I added the beans, corn and 1/4 cup Taco seasoning. (I buy it in bulk at Costco)

Let this simmer while warming the taco shells and cooking the pasta.

After the pasta was cooked, I mixed it in with the sauce mixture. We scooped it into taco shells and topped them with cheese.

They were really good!

One of the reasons my parents wanted to visit this weekend was to go snow tubing with Ross. My Mom chickened out, so I was drafted to take her place.
Unfortunately, we are unable to read, so we showed up 2 hours before they opened. We ended up hanging out at Caribou, sipping coffee, blogging, and playing chesskers. Checkers with chess pieces. Dad doesn’t know how to play chess…

After coffee, it was time for a bathroom break.

Seems like a bit of an understatement…

Anyways, we quickly arrived at the hill, and got our tickets. The best part of tubing? We didn’t have to climb the hill!

Oh yes, we rode a conveyor belt to the top.
Before we made our first trip, we had to put on our winter gear. I seem to have misplaced my hat, so I had to borrow one from Ross.

We went as a group a few times, then Ross and Grandpa had to race.

After a few trips down the hill, we were tired!

It was time for a break.

A few more trips down the hill, and we saw Grandma pull in to the parking lot. We pretended we didn’t see her, and went for one last ride.

It was a pretty quiet trip home for us, those grandparents sure wear my kids out!