Sunday, May 30

Well, today is my birthday - Brenna and I had lots of fun making our pink frosting and pink cake yesterday along with our trip to the zoo. Can't wait to cut into the cake and see how my homemade strawberry cake is (this is my first attempt at a homemade strawberry cake and I did some motifications that I really hope work out :-) Our trip to the zoo. I thought Brenna was going to be our photographer of the day, but after this picture she was just interested in finding popcorn and seeing the animals...

The polor bear was interested in seeing us - it almost looks like he smiles at us in the next one, lol.

The penguins were enjoying a morning swim...

The big fish at the zoo...

The giraffes

Brenna was most interested in having her picture with all the statues in the park - I think we got almost all of them :-)

This cat reminded us of our beloved Abby - we do miss her (although I am not in an hurry to add a cat back to our lives - I have enough cleaning to do with the dog and our house)...

they had little baby leopards at the zoo - so cute, but I didn't get any good pictures of them as Brenna was much more interested in finding the next statue...

I kind of liked this picture even though the bars are what is in focus - at least you can see that the lion was out, lol.

Brenna liked the diggers (and since we have never seen them in operation, she was pretty happy just to sit on them and pretend that they did the digging :-)

the baby bunnies in the "petting" area of the zoo...

loved her face expression below :-)

doesn't she just look so sweet?

the lioness enjoying some sun

picture fun at the bus stop (funny, Brenna was ready to pose and have her picture there and it was not a very pretty spot - the green behind her is the trash can) (but she looks good!)

Our self photo of the day

Hello All!!

Brenna and I had a fairly busy day yesterday. I decided we should go into town by bus in the morning, but as we got closer, I thought about the playground idea I originally had and decided maybe a trip to the zoo would be better. The morning weather was perfect (plus, I knew that I would not be able to bend and play with Brenna at the park - and it isn't much fun to play by yourself). So, we hoped on the train to Karlsruhe and spent our morning at the zoo (we didn't stay long - just enough time to enjoy the animals and some zoo food (hot dogs and popcorn) and then we headed back to our town). I am glad that we did decide to come back home as I had a headache by the afternoon (and I didn't prepare my backpack to be out longer than the morning - I took no snacks and no drinks - good thing the weather wasn't too hot). We found some drinks in town and then took the bus back home (we also found some new shoes for Brenna - hope she gets good use out of them this summer). We made another trip to the store in town and then we made our cake and frosting. Brenna was starting to get tired by this point, but we managed a quick call to daddy and then it was off to bed. We can't wait until he is home today - hopefully all will be on time and he will be home sometime after lunch. (the weather here is rainy all day so it will be a pretty lazy morning indoors here). (in case you are wondering how my back is doing - still stiff (about the same as yesterday), but the pain isn't so bad - probably need to start some stretches today to get some flexibility back to it - ugh - I'm too young to be falling apart!).

Take Care!

Saturday, May 29

Hello All!!

Hope all is well out there. My back is slowly doing better here (I was able to do some cracking of it yesterday morning and now it is just sore, not the really bad pain it was on Thursday) (although, I still woke up at 5 today to take some more tylenol, ugh...). So, Brenna and I did make it to school yesterday, but we rode the bus to school (hey, I figured she needed the excitement, not much fun going on at home when mommy doesn't feel well). Brenna loves riding the bus here (hey, we may even do it again today and go to the farmer's market in town) and the bus driver even gave her a lollipop. We did manage our walk home from school and stopped for ice cream on the way :-) We came home and ate lunch and then watched some movies. We also did some painting and coloring in the afternoon and then made some homemade strawberry jam. Brenna loved when I was cutting up the strawberries - she kept coming over to the plate and taking them :-) I am glad that she has decided to like them again (for a little while, they were not acceptable, lol). (although she won't try to the jam, not sure why, it has loads of sugar and tastes really good, lol). It was a rainy afternoon yesterday, so that suited my afternoon plans.

I thought it had been awhile since we had a Justice picture up, so here is one from this morning.

Well, I think that is our update from yesterday.

Take Care!

Thursday, May 27

so, here is my hair (new haircut) after being out in the humid weather today (above) Brenna and I having fun with the quickcam...

My hair when I got home from the salon - it looked just the way it was supposed to here. I think the guy who cut it did a really good job (should be interesting if I feel that way after washing and styling myself), but it is a real razor cut. (He also did a great head massage when he washed my hair - I am definitely going back for a cut before we come home even if I do think the cut price was high).

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. We are kind of limping by today - I messed my back up this morning and am moving at snail pace (walking and standing seem to be the worst - once I'm sitting, I am fine and I hope when I lay down for bed tonight all will be well there too). I seriously considered keeping Brenna home and just trying to lay in bed all day, but I had made a hair appointment earlier this week (sad that I took the agony of walking to and from school just to get my hair cut - I pretty much lost pity points with you at this point, didn't I, lol). The walking actually did seem to help some, I think I am moving better than I did when I took Justice out this morning...The weather has been very wet on and off today - luckily, Brenna and I have missed the worst of it (although it down poured for about 20 minutes before I needed to pick up Brenna - there went my pretty straightened hair - back to some frizz...)

Anyway, Brenna and I played Simon Says on the walk to school today and that seemed to help with how slow I was walking and how much energy she had. We both wanted to ride the bus home from school, but we needed to wait an hour for the first bus to come take us home, so we ended up sitting for about 30 minutes before Brenna finally decided we would walk (at first, she was willing to wait (ie. - "Mom, I want to ride the bus - I don't want to walk" (watery eyes followed)), at this point, I said, fine we would wait until she was ready to walk home - I didn't think she would last as long as she did, but finally she said "Mom, lets just walk home"). We stopped for some hot dogs on the way home and then have been having a movie afternoon. Although, Brenna is also loving her new food that came today - we ordered Grilled Chicken, chocolates, and ice cream. She has been serving me all afternoon :-)

I was hoping to put up some video that I took yesterday of Brenna blowing milk bubbles (a new skill she learned yesterday ;o) but I can't seem to get the camera and the computer to recognize each other (and I am not climbing under the computer or bending over it today - sorry!). So, here is our fun with the Quickcam today (just pictures - and I thought I would show the before 30 minutes outside on the humid day and after, lol).

Take Care!

Tuesday, May 25

Brenna loving her bubble machine. It was 86 in our apartment today, so she wore her swimsuit all afternoon :-)

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. Things are warm here, but a rain storm is coming through this evening that will cool things off for the next few days. Brenna and I enjoyed an ice cream treat on our walk home today - good thing it was almost gone before we got back to our warm apartment :-) (I am still working on trying all the flavours - my choice today would be a thumbs down - not something I would eat again, but it was a very pretty shade of light pink, lol). Brenna's class played outside at school today - her bangs have been soaked (with sweat) since then. After lunch, Brenna and I made some applesauce - I had a large number of apples that were too tart for my taste, so I thought that may be one of my healthier options. (Actually, Brenna played in the sink with soap and dishes - she loves to help "wash" stuff, I think she kept at it for about 30 minutes). For Justice's walk, Brenna had a chance to play with bubbles at the park and then we came home and played more on the balcony. (Justice looks so much better after his bath yesterday - I think I mentioned that Brenna and I gave him one - we wore our bathing suits which was a very good plan with our dog).

Brenna was excited to see Dustin on skype today - we are missing him - hope he is back with us soon!

I stopped on my way home today for a new pair of tennis shoes - boy was the cushion in the old ones gone - I didn't realize how bad they were until wearing the new pair today - my feet and knees feel much better.

Brenna and I also looked through her picture albums - it is amazing how fast our time keeps going - she is growing so fast...

Well, not too much else today, just did some cleaning this morning and trying to stay cool.

Take Care!

Monday, May 24

Some views from the parks - here are our last pictures from Disney today (hmmm - only had a "few" favorites, lol). I'm trying to get some video up this morning too - hope it works :-)

The park during the magic hours - oh, so nice (below)

The restraunt for the Princess Luncheon below - I think we all agreed it was worth it - good food and princesses and princes - what could be better?? (except for cotton candy - that is what Brenna kept wanting to eat the whole meal).

Tower at Sleeping Beauty's castle

Another view with the magic hours - not many people out early :o) Brenna loved it - she rode all her favorite rides twice in the morning!

Views from the parade - Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip

Beauty and the Beast

Tiana (it was hard to get a good picture of Tiana - they always had them in a shady spot and I never adjusted my camera right for it (I think I had to try to take some of the shadow away in all the pictures in photoshop)). But, they looked really good and were really nice when we did the group picture (although Brenna was much more reserved the second day with the characters than on the first day).

Cinderella and her prince

Another of Sleeping Beauty and Prince

Snow White and her prince

Scar

Eeyore

Some dancers - I just loved this guys smile :-)

Hmm - this guy's expressions just didn't quite live up to the other guys...

Woody and Jessie - we never even made it over to their side of the park - Brenna had too much fun in Fantasyland

Toy Story

Hello All!!!

Hope all is well out there. Today are our last pictures from Disney (and hopefully some video as well). Our spot for the parade was great - we had a view of all the dances and Brenna loved seeing all the characters - I'm sure I heard "look mom, look mom" several dozen times during the parade. We had such a great time, we may have to go back for one more day before we leave - hmm - who knows! Dustin flew to the US yesterday - not sure how his flight was, but it was on-time, so hopefully traffic was light and he made it to Chippewa Lake in good time. Brenna is going to have Daddy withdrawl this week - she was ready to come home from our walk yesterday afternoon and see him....

It was a pretty quiet day here yesterday (Brenna was a little grumpy yesterday, so we just went to the park and then on our walk with Justice). Maybe we will go out today, just depends on how Brenna is feeling today... Brenna wore her adorable pink dress to the park yesterday, but wouldn't let me photograph her at all. She is much more interested in others taking her picture than in me taking her picture at the moment, bummer... Brenna has decided to be my dishwasher here lately - she loves helping with all the dishes :-) (or playing with the suds and water - but at least things are getting clean).

Anyways - here are some videos from our trip:

Princesses in the parade - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vku916d9gPY

Brenna's room tour - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pvwN8n5hSQ (I found this funny)

Room tour continued - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ce0xJimGnk

It's a Small World - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r4Q--xXI5c

It's a Small World (part 2) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzuODtPMXW4

It's a Small World (part 3) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noMVhnZKJ8E

Well, that is it for this morning! Take Care!