Blizzard of the Month

Ah, yes, the Blizzard of the Month club returns. Although I don't seem to be having much success lately. October was Pumpkin Pie - yuck! For November, the Dairy Queen marketing folks must have taken a vacation because they repeated July's Blizzard. And December was candy cane chill blizzard - not a big fan of peppermint in my ice cream.

Here it is:

Candy Cane Chill Blizzard

"A mouth-watering combination of peppermint candy cane pieces and rich chocolate chunks mixed with creamy DQ® soft serve."

Since I was visiting Oklahoma and my brother, the other founder of my club lives there, the plan was to go to together. However, due to bad weather and horrendous holiday traffic he was unable to make it. I don't blame him, it took us 30 minutes to get home from DQ which is only 2.5 miles away from my parents home. So, I took my husband Mark, who was nice enough to agree to my silly blizzard rating game. I didn't give him much of a choice but "Thanks Mark!"

Mark said:

"I give it a 6. Too much peppermint, not enough chocolate. If given a choice to buy again I'd go back to the brownie batter blizzard."

And my mom couldn't come with us either, she got stuck at work. So we brought one to her.
Janice (Mom) said:

"I give it an 8. I loved the crunch of the mint mixed with the chunks of chocolate."

And my loyal friend Mandy from IN. said:

"I liked the Candy Cane Chill Blizzard. It had a good mix of chocolate and peppermint. I think it was fun that the ice cream was pink. It was very festive tasting--perfect thing to eat a few days before Christmas. I give it 8."

Oh yes and I did try it. I tried a bite of Mark's and I said:
"Ew, yuck, peppermint. Needs more chocolate."

Thanks to all the participants, here's to hoping for something chocolatey for next month, I need a good one. And if anyone else wants to participate, you are welcome!

Drummer Boy

My very own little drummer boy. Drumming and eating the spoons.

Getting outta town

It is official, the tourists have hit the mountain. The grocery stores are jammed with families trying to outfit an entire kitchen for the holidays, the streets are busy with people who don't know how to use a crosswalk, there are no parking places anywhere near the post office, and forget thinking that anyone from out of town knows how to use the traffic circle. So, we figured it was time to get out of town.

The original plan was to leave Monday night, drive all night and arrive to Tulsa Tuesday morning. Then we decided to leave Sunday night. THEN, on Friday we decided to leave Saturday night...so we did. We drove, Jack slept - he did great. We listened to music and stopped for lots of caffeine. We arrived (very tired) with all of us and the 2 dogs. My mom has been on a familiarization trip in Cabo (nice perk of being a travel agent) and came back to see my smiling face at the airport last night. Nice early Christmas present having your daughter arrive early.

So we are here in Tulsa, ready to relax a bit. Don't have to worry about the new house. Mark just has to finish his final in the next 2 days. And we have grandparents to spoil Jack!

Fan boy

We have slept in the new place for the last 3 nights, yeah! Our social worker came yesterday to update our home study! The renters are in our old place and it was actually ready for them. Mark and I pulled a lot of really late nights this week and were fortunate to have so many people willing to help us. It is done. We still have some (okay several) unpacked boxes but now we have set a limit to unpacking no more than 2 boxes a day.

The new house is good. It will take some getting used to. Whenever I am talking to Mark he has to remind me that this house is bigger and therefore can't hear me from every room. Darn! It's a 2-story house, that is different. And the wood floors...we now hear Macy walking around our room in the middle of the night (click, click, click - go her nails on the floor). Oh, and the garage - no more snow covered cars in the morning.

Jack is pretty adaptable and doesn't seem to care too much. However, he loves our new ceiling fan. He stares at it like he does the tv, even when it is not on (again, just like the tv). Here's our cute boy looking at the fan.

Moving Days

There isn't one moving day for us this move - it is more like moving week. We closed on the house last Friday and we have been moving ever since then. Some stuff is in the garage, some is in the new house, and a very little is still in the old house. We had most of the house repainted and that is done. We have ripped out the carpet and it is being replaced today. This is why it has been difficult to move...some rooms had to wait for paint to be finished and some for carpet...some for both. Tonight we should be able to really start finalizing things, which is great because Thursday our social worker will be visiting our new place so that we can update our home study and apply for a new I-171H (something we need in order to bring home Hannah). In the midst of all the moving we are trying to get our old place ready for the renters who will be moving in Thursday. Aggghhhh....deep breath.

Jack Frost

We have our very own Jack Frost. Our little man is cold. He is the kid who literally turns blue in the swimming pool. This last month Jack has been attending a Tadpoles swimming class at the Rec Center. It has been fun to watch him in the pool, floating around, kicking like crazy, and wearing himself out so that he will take great naps the rest of the day. But by the end of the class, (it is only 30 minutes and it is a heated pool) his lips have turned bluish/purple and he shakes if you lift him out of the water even just a little. It is the same with bath time these days, as soon as he gets out he just shakes uncontrollably. Poor little guy. We asked the Dr. about it and he said it is because he has so much surface area and not a lot of fat.

Visitors...and Hannah Update

Nana & Papa came for a visit...

Last week Nana & Papa, Mark's parents came for a visit. Grandparents are great and we are treasuring all the time little man Jack gets with them. It is nice of course for Mark and I to see and visit with family too. Jack got lots of attention and got to show off the new things he's learned since they saw him last in September: sitting up, eating, laughing. While they were here we also did a bit of packing, Papa got to go swimming with Jack, we went to Main Street in Breckenridge, celebrated Nana's birthday, and opened a few Christmas presents. Their visit wasn't quite long enough, but it never is...

Thanks for coming Nana & Papa!

Then this week, Grandpa came on Wednesday...
My dad does quite a bit of traveling for work and he was able to drive up to see us since he was in Denver for some meetings. While he was here, I drove him by our new place, we talked, ate dinner, he fed Jack dinner, and we played with Jack. This visit was just a few hours and again, not long enough, but we are looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas in Oklahoma. Can't wait!

And, Hannah Update...
We have a court date for Miss Hannah...January 5th, 2010. Assuming we pass court on the day we are scheduled, our tentative embassy date is February 15, 2010. Mark would be with her for sure on Valentine's Day - which would be quite the present.

Rudolph Treats

Easy Christmas kid-appealing treat, for those that like coconut.
Almond Joy or Mounds.
Marshmallows for the eyes, I used edible food markers to make the pupils.
Red mini M&M for the nose.
Cut pretzels for the ears.
I used a bit of corn syrup to attach the marshmallows and the M&M's.

Happy 7 Months

7 Months

Likes:
Reading. Loves Dr. Seuss books and looking at pictures...we read a lot!
Pushing all the music buttons on the exersaucer.
Jumping in the jumper.
Smiling at everyone, almost all the time...love that smile!
Laughing. Trying to get others to laugh with him.

Dislikes:
Rolling over. He knows how to just doesn't like to do it.
Carrots.

Discoveries/Developments:
Teething like crazy.
Sitting.
Eating all kinds of new foods: cereal, banana, squash, carrots, avocado, applesauce.
Launching forward from the sitting position (although not crawling, acting like he would like to)
Touching EVERYTHING or wanting to touch everything.

Happy 7 Months Jack!!



We love you!

Hannah update

My goodness, that girl is cute. We got our monthly update today. 2 cute new little pictures and an update on her development. She seems to be right about where Jack was, doing the things he was doing, etc...at least as far as we can tell from a piece of paper. It is getting really hard to be patient. We are still waiting to find out when our court date will be.

Here are her measurements:
5 weeks - 4.8 lbs
3 1/2 mos. - 7.7 lbs
5 mos. - 10.5 lbs

She is gaining weight, which is great. At 5 mos. Jack was 11.10 lbs. Not too far off!

Can't wait to bring you home baby girl!

Scones and Sensibility

This is the title of my friend Lindsay's book. Yes, I am friends with a published author. Her book Scones and Sensibility will be released on December 22. To read about her book, go here to her website and read about her book.

Love you Lindsay....so proud of you!!!

Little man

I always call Jack "little man," but he really is. We had a checkup today at the Dr.'s and he got shots. Mark was in Breckenridge this morning and he was able to come with us. The doc said he looks great, just little. He is 12 lbs, 13 oz and 26 inches. Keep growing little dude.

Oh and the shots! Mark held him and I watched the tears from across the room. The tears didn't last long and now he is sleeping.