All Systems Go!

Brendan has finally made a full recovery and is back to his normal wild self. The puke is gone, he’s eating normal again and is running around our house like nothing happened. Today he went to pre-school and enjoyed himself immensely. I think it was nice for him to get out of the house for a change. He’s been cooped up here too long.

To celebrate his health, we played outside with some water and buckets. The weather here finally feels like summer and it is so nice. I’m just sad that it took so long. It’s practically August and soon fall will be upon us so I’m going to take advantage of the nice weather while I can. Plus, I really need a tan.

Brendan had a blast dousing himself with water over and over again- no surprise there. It’s so nice to see him smiling and laughing again after 3 days of being miserable.

He got one of his many Hot Wheels cars and built a tunnel for it. He’s in love with cars and it seems like every time we go to Wal-Mart we end up leaving with a new one (or three).

I’m hoping to take lots of pictures to share this week. I feel like I’ve been slacking lately and have a renewed desire to take as many photos as I can. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that it actually happens.

Sorry, no photos or anything else exciting

Just popping in to say sorry for being absent for a week and most likely we'll still be MIA for a few more days. Brendan has come down with some kind of nasty virus and I have had to clean up way more puke than I would like. After being thrown up on several times and doing load after load of dirty smelly laundry while being sleep deprived, I'm not up to posting anything substantial. Plus, I have to teach in RS tomorrow and I've been freaking out for the last week over that. Teaching is not one of my talents. Here's to hoping that Brendan can kick his fever once and for all so we can get back to normal around here and resume regular posting.

30 Years and One Cool Outing

Today was a VERY special day indeed. Chris celebrated his 30th birthday and Brendan got to meet Thomas the Tank Engine. Chris was kind enough to share his day with Brendan so we spent the day out in the hot sun at the North Conway Scenic Railroad, pushing our way through swarms of small children and trying to prevent Brendan’s temper tantrums.

It all began with a 20 minute train ride with Thomas. This was Brendan’s first time on a train and he was so excited! As we were walking back to our train car, he kept pushing me in the butt trying to get me to walk faster.

He was such a good boy and loved hearing the train blow its whistle- he was a pro at showing off his “choo choo” skills.

We were lucky to sit in the only air-conditioned car so we were quite comfortable during the trip.

This is the best shot we could get with Thomas without paying  a ridiculous amount of money for a teenager with a camera to snap a crappy picture. So we just snuck off to the side and used the money we saved to buy some delicious burritos later that made for a great birthday lunch.

I also had a heart attack when we entered the merchandise tent. The prices were at least double what you would pay in the store- and people were going crazy buying shirts and hats and trains left and right. It was insane. We saw a collapsing bridge set that would have been very cool but it was $50 for FOUR pieces of plastic… we didn’t buy it.

The nice part about this event was that they had lots other activities for kids- like the bouncy house. Brendan wanted me to alert the grandparents to Brendan’s wish of owning his own bouncy house. He loved it but got overwhelmed when there were lots of kids inside, so he would like his very own personal one.

The even had a kid size maze. We may need to build our own in our backyard because Brendan LOVED it. Who knew that running around and getting lost in hay would be so cool to him?

We were exhausted at the end of the afternoon. We’ve had a laidback birthday bash with an awesome steak dinner (grilled by yours truly) and an even more awesome ice cream pie.

And we’re ending the the birthday bash with band practice by playing Rock Band all night long. Tomorrow, the celebrations continue with a night out on the town (without Brendan!) and a mini-golf tournament. Anyone who knows Chris knows that he is a mini golf enthusiast and his birthday would not be complete without playing a round. Thanks to all the friends and family who called Chris on his special day. We wish you were all here to help us celebrate but now you have plenty of time to plan a trip out to Northern New Hampshire for next year!

Happy "Beef" Day

No, folks. It isn't national Beef Day. That's coming up on August 26, at the New York State Fair. I'm talking about a different kind of Beef Day. It's B-Fro's birthday. And this time, it's personal. I think I should start out by explaining where the nickname "B-Fro" came from. It all happened many years ago at the "new" house. You see, Johnny-B was an avid WWF wrestling fan and one day he was watching some amazing wrestling action on TV while my friend Peter Sabey was over. We too saw part of the show and noticed that one of the wrestler's was named Johnny B. Badd (As pictured below. 90's wrestlers sure were flamboyant. Notice the amazing synthesizer blanket draped over his shoulders. He also looks like he may have been an early test subject for plastic surgery/botox. Lookin' good, Johnny B. Badd!) Now, since the wrestler's name was Johnny and Johnny's name was Johnny, the most logical thing to do was to start calling our Johnny - Johnny B. Badd. This, however, was just the beginning.
The name Johnny B. Badd didn't stick for long. Johnny had some "fun" hair growing up. Not sure who his barber at Great Clips was or if my mom asked specifically for the "mushroom bowl cut," but for years Johnny B had what can only be described as , well, a mushroom bowl cut. The picture below is almost an exact replica of Johnny's hair growing up; just picture it a few shades darker (if you look up "mushroom bowl cut" on google images, this is the first picture that pops up. Pretty sweet.). So, being that Johnny had a "white-man's fro" his name quickly changed from Johnny B. Badd to Johnny B-Fro. This name has stuck for well over a decade now.

Of course, once the name Johnny B-Fro was applied we realized that it could be altered or varied depending on mood, setting, or occasion. Here are a list of variations of Johnny B-Fro that have come and gone over the years: Johnny LaRu, Johnny Angel, Frovalone, Fro, Jimmy Dean, Johnny B., Johnny Bojangles, The B., Beefstick, Beef N' Stuff, Beef Log, Beef-which. If I'm forgetting any, please send in your comments listing the other names.

So, that is the evolution of Johnny B. Fro. Now, being that it is the Fro's birthday, there is always a concern of his day being spoiled by the diabolical Birthday Bandit. I've issued an all points bulletin with the Ogden police and I've included this artist's sketch of what the Birthday Bandit looks like. Please, if anyone sees this man near Johnny B's house or work today, call the police immediately. As the Noid ruins pizzas, the Birthday Bandit ruins birthdays. Let's make sure that doesn't happen to Johnny; not this year. I've also contacted McGruff the crime dog and the neighborhood watch group, so now all we can do is wait and hope.

All of this talk about birthdays and reminiscing about old time with Johnny B reminds me of the year he got the toy My Buddy. The picture below is a "before" picture and I wish I had an "after" picture, but before the name Johnny B Fro existed, Johnny was dubbed Destructo Man. The doll started out in perfect shape, but after a few weeks he started to look a little different. Johnny gave him haircuts lopping off large chunks at a time. He started to color on him with markers, he gouged his head with blunt objects and otherwise managed to turn him into something much scarier than even Chucky from the movie Child's Play. In the end though, I would say My Buddy was a wise investment. Normally young children tire of their toys after a short time. But with so many ways to mangle and warp the figure of this doll it actually turned into a great use of time and My Buddy became a part of our family. R.I.P, My, no, "Our" Buddy.

In other news, I want to announce it here first. As many of you know I have a band called All Things Considered. We are working on a new album which will include many fan favorites such as a reprisal of Bearded Lady, and other new hits such as To Be Decided. Now, Johnny B. was and is our biggest fan. He's been to many shows and has memorized all of our song lyrics. To better demonstrate his devotion, Johnny even started his own band using one of our former band names and they attempted to cover some of our songs (unfortunately Hunter couldn't "play that fast" and they had to abandon the idea) To honor his devotion as well as his guitar skills, Johnny B. is officially joining the band as our bassist. Since I'm in NH and he's in Utah all of our practices and shows will be conducted through conference calls or online, but nonetheless, we won't stop rocking, not even for a little bit. You can check out our website to see a quick bio for our new bassist - http://www.purevolume.com/allthingsconsideredatc

In conclusion, Happy Birthday B-Fro! Please avoid the Birthday Bandit and don't break all of your new toys right away.

O Glorious Day!

FINALLY, a day with sun, few clouds and temperatures over 75! It is so nice to have a real summer day again; I’ve really missed summer. It’s my favorite season and this year I’ve been jipped so far. But today was such a nice day, I’m starting forget the horrible weather we’ve been having although it’s supposed to be back this weekend. So we’re taking advantage of the nice weather while it lasts.

After spending a long morning at the park, we headed back home for a snack and then right back outside to our garden. Maybe “garden” isn’t the right word. Because of our lame weather, my carrots never sprouted. Neither did the cucumbers. My zucchini were eaten by bugs within 3 days. Only one of my tomato plants survived the slugs. So all we have in our garden are bean plants and one sad tomato plant. And LOTS of weeds. but I blame that on the rain since it’s been too soggy and wet to get out in my garden and do much weeding.

See my bean plants behind Brendan? They’re starting to get tall!

This is all my little helper did while in the garden today. He had a good time and at least it prevented him from running around and stomping on my surviving plants.

This little boy is just too cute. I couldn’t stop taking pictures.

And while my garden has been somewhat of a failure, at least the raspberry bush is doing great! It’s fun to go out every few days and check on their progress. They are finally starting to turn red little by little. I can’t wait.

This was one of the only times he stopped what he was doing to look at the camera and smile. Then it was back to doing what boys do best- collecting rocks and throwing them.

I tried to get him to sit on the porch and let me take a few nice photos of him but, as you can tell, he wasn’t having any of that. And now it is nap time! This has been a great day.

Cruel, Cruel Summer

The weather this summer has been the worst ever. It has rained 9 days out of the last 10 with high temperatures barely getting to 70 on a good day. Egads, this is NOT what summer is supposed to be like.

But in good news, Brendan started preschool this week and loves it. Chris had this past week off of work so he was able to see Brendan off on his first day. I’m excited for my little boy to make lots of friends and learn lots of new things. And it’s incredibly nice to have 6 hours a week to myself even though I have NO idea what to do during those 6 hours. I’ll think of something though.

On the eve of the Fourth, we hit the local carnival that was in town. Look at those lovely clouds. It rained on and off the whole time we were there, which admittedly wasn’t long since the weather was so crappy. But we stayed long enough for Brendan to realize that he loves carnivals.

Chris took him down the giant slide. I wasn’t too sure how Brendan was going to handle it…

But I shouldn’t have been surprised that he loved it. He would have gone down that slide all night if we’d have let him. Luckily we found other ways to distract him.

Like riding in a ginormous bee. Brendan was a little scared at first but once we really started going, he loved it. 

Brendan couldn’t contain his joy and excitement, so when we weren’t on a ride he would just run around Chris in a circle. The boy moves fast.

People were walking by chuckling at my little guy’s excitement. It probably didn’t help that he had just eaten half of my fried dough which I had covered with cinnamon and powdered sugar.

And then he enjoyed a batch of Cotton Candy on the ride home. He was all sugared up but surprisingly still went to bed without a peep from him.

For Independence Day, we had another round of thunder storms so we mostly stayed inside and were lazy. We did fire up our grill and enjoyed some delicious burgers. Brendan had fun arranging his burger, putting on about 5 onion slices and loads of ketchup. But in the end, he decided just to eat the bun. I’m just glad he ate something since he still tends to be a very picky eater.

Hopefully the weather finally starts acting like it’s summer and we can get a chance to spend some time outside. My legs are in dire need of a tan and Brendan still has some adorable swim trunks to show off.