One Little Monkey...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

... From California ...

Will post more next week!!

Sharing

Brynn was sitting on the couch eating some snacks. Allie walked up to Brynn and sat down beside the couch. Brynn pointed to Allie and said "NO!". Apparently she didn't want to share...

Nice Try

We attempted to take Brynn to see Madagascar 2 tonight, her first movie in the theater. We made it through a few good previews and about 20 minutes of the movie. From what we saw, it looked super cute!! Brynn was dancing like crazy and then got sleepy and bored.

We'll stick with movies at home for a while... and buy this one when it comes out on dvd!!

Nie Day At Habit Salon

This morning after swimming lessons, we decided that we should probably take Brynn to get her hair trimmed. We were going to take her one of those places for kids but then I remembered that today was "Nie Day" at Habit Salon, which was right down the street. All proceeds today from 7am to 7pm were donated to helping the Nielson's. We decided that because it was such a good cause, we should go. I wasn't planning to get mine done (as you can tell, I still had my sunglasses on my head while she was trimming Brynn's hair) but we figured what the heck, why not?

Here are some pictures from our fun morning (Chad even thought it was cool!), it was a neat salon and as long as our budget permits, they've got some returning customers in the West family. I'm sure they raised quite a bit of money, they were pretty packed when we were there. They were also selling some "Nie" gear and had some raffles. We bought a ticket and won some children's books (Chad was excited, he was hoping that we'd win those for Brynn)!!

She did really great while she was getting her trim, I wasn't sure how she'd do since she's only had one other hair cut and it was by Grampie Don last year!! For whatever reason, she was super cuddly... I think she was getting sleepy!!

I'm so excited that they did this special day for the Nielson's!! Like I'm said in my previous posts, I've never met them before, I've only read articles and blogs but I think that Stephanie would really like that salon. It seems to have her sense of style, antique-y and sophisticated. Super cute. Hopefully she'll be able to make it over there sometime to check it out.

Another Nielson Article

CLICK HERE

P.I.T.A.

I met with a trainer last night.

My legs, hips and ass hurt.

It's a good pain. A good Pain In The Ass. Hmph.

CHEEEEEEESE!

Brynn received a package from my Aunt Barb in Oregon on Saturday, Brynn loves the blanket that she sent. Can you tell?



Thanks Aunt Barb!!

Cotton Candy Ice Cream

I'd say she liked it...

Wooster High School Class of 1999

If you were in my class and you're reading this, sign up for FACEBOOK.COM. There's talk of a reunion next year.

*** UPDATE ***

Please send me an e-mail with your name (maiden and married), e-mail address, physical address, phone number, what you are doing now (school, job, etc.
) are you married? have kids? have a website of your own?

We're trying to update a spreadsheet with all of this information. David Abt has sent out a few e-mails trying to get all of this information but a lot of it is old and the e-mail addresses don't work.

My e-mail address is acslax8520@aol.com.

Thanks!!

Amanda

Back In My Element

I've been in my new position for almost three weeks now. I am going to be doing all of the purchasing and they just let someone go on Wednesday so I'll be doing all of the customer service too. I still don't know exactly what all of that means, other than I'm going to be completely swamped. Some people have been a little discouraging about me having to do all of this, just because they know it's a lot of work. They keep telling me that over and over and over and over... I am hoping to prove myself soon, so I don't have to hear it anymore. I've done customer service and been in high-stress jobs before, I'm back in my element.

So far, I think it's going pretty well. I like to know everything (no comments on that one...), so training has been a little frustrating. Once I know what I'm doing, I'll be fine.

I'm pretty excited about this position and the company. People seem to be a little bit more comfortable around me this week than they were the last two. They're opening up a little bit and being more friendly, which has made me feel better about working there. Most people kept to themselves for those first couple weeks, which I wasn't used to at all.

Little things about this company make me laugh, I think mostly because I'm used to working for large companies. For example, at Layne, I had my own printer, credit card and key to the building. At my new company, I share a printer with probably 20 other people. No credit card. No key to the building. I'll be there later than most people, but I still won't have a key. Last week, I had to leave early two days because people that had keys were leaving and I'd be locked in if I didn't leave. I just got a key to the office supply cabinet today, which seems to be a HUGE deal. I bet you're jealous, aren't you?

OH and one more weird thing... I have a camera on me all day long. Kind of creepy. It's far away and I don't know how much it zooms in but it's still weird.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you all know that I REALLY like my new position and everything is going well!! YAY!!

P.S. My friends at Layne, I miss you!! Um, and our Kokopelli Tuesdays too.

Motivated

Jenn and I just signed up for a gym membership.

We went together on Saturday and Sunday... she walked in a Veteran's Day parade today with Matt and Luke... and I went to the gym tonight. The plan is for us to go to the gym tomorrow too.

I'd say we're on a roll... we just need to keep it up!! I'm excited about it because it gets us both out of the house and we're actually able to hang out and talk. Hopefully we'll both see some results. Soon.

YAY for us!!

Brynn's Spot

I've mentioned before that Brynn likes to take everything out of this cabinet and take it all over the house. Now, she likes to take some of the containers out, sit IN the cabinet and play with everything that's left in there with her.



Note to self: Don't waste your time trying to organize the Rubbermaid containers, Brynn will rearrange it all anyway.

PREGO!!!!!!!!!!

I bet that just made your heart stop for a second, didn't it?! No, I'm not Prego! ;o)

5 MINUTES FOR MOM is hosting a "Fun With Food Photo Contest", the prize is a $500 grocery card!! HOPEFULLY this picture of Brynn will atleast get us into the finals!! What do you think? Wish us luck!!



Thanks to BECKI for telling us about the contest!! Make sure you click on Becki's link, she has a super cute picture of Maggie on there!!

P.S. We really do use Prego's sauce! How weird!!

Just For The Record

My mom sent Brynn this sweater for Brynn last week (even though we just found the UPS box IN OUR BACKYARD the other night). I was all excited and really liked the sweater because it's really bright and she's a bright-color kind of chick.

Mom, here is what she thought of it:





Note to self: Brynn doesn't like wool. Or hoods. Or putting a thick sweater in 80 degree weather. Oh well. It's big on her, so maybe it will be her favorite next year.

Thanks Mom!! ;o)

Luke The Driver

Here is the second video that I was going to post...

Best Buddies

Last Saturday, Brynn and I went over to the Casey's house to hang out with Jenn and Luke! Brynn and Luke had a blast playing in a laundry basket... you HAVE TO check out the videos below to see the two cutest kids EVER!!

Oh and while we were there, Jenn was doing some laundry. Somehow, Brynn found Matt's Scoobydoo undies and tried to put them on!! (Yes, they were clean!)

Here are a few of the pictures and videos we took that night:









Here is ONE of the videos. They are taking me forever to upload. Check back soon to see number two!!

Labels

Towards the bottom of this page, I have added a list of the labels that I've put on my recent posts.

So, if you want to read everything that has to do with my pregnancy, just click on "Bun In The Oven" or everything that has to do with someone visiting from out of town, click on "Fun Visit". Most of the posts have more than one label on them, so if you're looking for a specific memory, you'll have a few options to search in.

I have about a year and a half to go back through and label, so it will be quite a while before I'm finished!!

Bear Crawl

Brynn will walk if she's holding on to something but freaks out if you try to get her to do it by herself. She's ALMOST there!!

Last night, we went to another potluck. Brynn and I were sitting on the ground and she decided that she wanted to go off on her own. Well, she didn't like how the grass felt on her legs.

Here is the sequence of events that lead to her doing a barecrawl ALL OVER the yard.

Halloween - Part 2

Last night we went to the Blakesley's house for some Halloween fun. They had their yard decorated like a cemetary and went all out!! We had lots of trick-or-treaters stop by to get candy. A few of the guys from the club dressed up (I think we might next year).

Brynn dressed up as a Scaaary Three Eyed Monster... for about five minutes!! She was not a happy camper when she had that costume on, can you tell by the pictures below? We learned our lesson... no more thick costumes. ;o)

Here are some pictures from our fun night!!