For Those That Find Dora Annoying

Don't get me wrong, Dora has been a favorite of both of my kid's cartoon-watching lives. We have had umpteen (yes, I insist that is a word) Dora toys, Dora movies that were on repeat at times, Dora bath toys, Dora games, you get the idea.

But as a parent, is it just me that finds Dora to be a tad bit annoying? Her whiny voice certainly doesn't help. I'd like to blame her for Joshua's constant whining. I mean, he watches her more than any other show so it's a learned behavior, right? Her haircut is ugly, her shirt doesn't fit, and her only friends seem to be animals that can be equally annoying.

I LOVE Dora when I am cooking dinner because she keeps Joshua occupied, happy, and out of the kitchen. Oh that makes me think of another thing I don't like about that show: where are her parents? She is just left alone all day to roam the world (planet, sometimes) with talking animals and going into scary forests. What's up with that? Don't her parents know what kind of scary world we live in with evil predators lurking? Sheesh, someone needs to call the CPA and report them. I have gotten evil glares if I have snuck out of the INDOOR playground at McDonald's get myself another refill of my drug of choice: coca cola. And Dora's parents have no clue where she is. Ever. Maybe it's her annoying voice that is making her poor mom want her out of the house and out of her hair all day. Just a hunch.

This ranting of our bilingual friend, Dora the Explorer, brings me to why I started this post. Check out Wendy Aaron's blog. She has a guest poster, Lulu & Moxley, and it is freaking hilarious. I found myself nodding from agreeing to so many other things about Dora that are annoying and odd.

Even if you have not watched an entire show of Dora, please read. You will laugh out loud. I know, I could have just shortened those last 3 words with LOL, but that really annoys me too.

Mommy/Daughter Day

Wow, it has been awhile since I have written anything. My normal routine has been thrown into a tailspin these past 2 weeks. What started to be a week long business trip for Jason turned into 2. I really think this has been the longest we have been apart. While he is gone, I need to have help from friends and family with dropping off the kids at school in the morning. I am SO grateful to have our parents live within a hour from us. My mom has stayed with us here and there to help out, my dad has come over my house bright and early before 6 am, and the kids have spent a few nights at my mother-in-law's so she can take them in some mornings. I pick them up after work, it is just the mornings I need help with since I leave my house at 5:30 most mornings. Yes, that is early!

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Soooooo, most nights I have not had the luxury to just relax after the kids go to bed or fiddle around on the computer. And work has been nutty, so no down time to blog during the day.

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BUT, I had a great idea a few weeks ago to surprise Sammi with what I call "Mommy & Sammi Day". We have done this in the past and that is all she has been asking me recently, "mommy, when can we have a just-us day?". Great idea! Her school had a Christmas in July party that she wanted me desperately to attend. My previous job was really close to home, so I was able to attend pretty much every party, even in the middle of the day. Not so much when I work 45 miles away in Dallas. I decided I would take that day off and surprise her at the party, then go out just the two of us for the day. I made up an excuse that I had a doctor's appointment and couldn't make it. I felt bad for lying, but I had to come up with something because I was actually home in the morning when she woke up. I loved the look on her face when she saw me come in her classroom that morning. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it.

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She is fascinated with me riding the train to work everyday, so I thought we would ride the train into Dallas. Not 5 minutes into the ride, she was asking me "how much longer?". Really? Sheesh.

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Here she is waiting for the train to arrive. She was so excited. Oh, and the hat she decorated at school.

We walked around the downtown area, went into the old red courthouse, then ventured to another building to eat. Here she is playing with the water fountain. About 2 seconds after I took this, I was scolded by security that I cannot take a picture. My arguing self said "why? I don't see any signs saying not to do that" ah-hem, in my nicest voice, that is! She said there wasn't any signs but the owner doesn't like pictures to be taken. Really? Doesn't that seem a bit much or is it just me?

Eating lunch together...she insisted I sit on the same side of the table with her. I loved it, as I know there will come a time that she doesn't even want to be at the same table with me. :)

View of Dallas from the 40th floor of some building. We were going to go to the top of Reunion Tower, but the observation decks are still closed for renovations. I wasn't willing to shell out the dough for us to eat at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant just to see the view from there.

We did a whole bunch of more walking around, going into shops, and just talking. It was great, just the two of us, no interruptions. She got a doll that is like a Webkin where you do things with it online. Here she is on the train back with her. She took the clothes off and giggled when she saw it had boobs. Oh my.

When we got back to our area, Sammi wasn't quite ready to go back to reality and pick up Joshua. So we took a detour to Marble Slab and had ice cream together. mmm...it was good!

I cherish these moments with her. I know it won't always be this way, so I will enjoy it while I can! My goal is to do this with her every other month, even if it's just a few hours together on the weekends. My little girl is growing and I don't ever want to look back with regret that I didn't spend more time with her, one on one. I remember having those times with my mom and they were priceless.

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I love you, Sammi-girl! I am glad God gave me YOU!

Flip Flop Exchange

How many times have you participated in one of those gift exchanges where you were promised recipes, kitchen towels, etc and never received a gosh darn thing? Yea, me too. But my great friend Rebecca hosted a bloggy flip flop exchange. I LOVE flip flops (no telling how many I own) and thought I'd give this one a try. The neat thing about this exchange is that we were to send along with the flip flops a special item from our state. I was sooooo excited when I checked my mailbox after a long day at work and saw a package...just for me!

Not only did I get a cute pair of flip flops, I got an oven mit (can never have too many!), and a delicious chocolate bar. All from Seattle! My kids were crowding me as I tore into my package to retrieve my goodies. Thankfully only Sammi wanted a bite of my chocolate (Josh isn't a sweets eater) and I actually shared A LITTLE with her. Really, just a teeny bit. Call me selfish, but I don't get much to just myself anymore!

If my friend hosts another exchange and I post about it here, trust me, you should participate. It was fun!

A Sort Of Camping Trip

This post is a few weeks late. I have been meaning to load pictures up from the long weekend over the 4th of July, but when I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is to get back on the computer. But I know each and every one of you have been dying (ha!) to read about my trip with Jason and the rug rats, so here you go!

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When I found out that I had Friday before the 4th off, I told Jason that we needed to do something fun with the kids. Jason came up with the idea to leave Thursday night and go camping with the kids. My dad has an awesome travel trailer that is pretty new and rarely used. In fact, we have used it more than he has! So after quickly packing after work on Thursday, we headed off to the wild blue yonder (aka: Cedar Hill State Park). We didn't go far, but no matter where you are that isn't home, it feels far away.

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When we got in late that night, Jason hooked up the trailer and we found out quickly that the electricity box we were plugged into wasn't good. It kept blowing it's fuse and it was super hot that day/night. When the a/c quit working, it got hot inside quickly. In fact, it was cooler outside! While Jason tried to get maintenance to come help out (it was after 10 pm and they were closed) and work on it himself, I put the kids in the car with the a/c on and had them sleep there until it was fixed. My worry-wart daughter wouldn't sleep until all was right with the world. Long story short, Jason took the chance and moved the trailer to another location, hoping and praying it wasn't reserved for someone else and they would come in the middle of the night knocking on our door to move. Thank goodness, it wasn't! Needless to say, we went to bed late that night, but grateful for working a/c!

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The next morning I took the kids and our dog, Lucy, for a walk and we found a playground for them to play on. Even at 8 am, we were sweating from the heat. We headed back and I took the kids to the grocery store. Jason grilled outside for lunch. We scratched the plans for an outdoor picnic and opted for the cool, bug less indoors. Why do kids freak out with tiny bugs? Ugh, I lost my patience with that.

While Joshua took a 4 hour nap (yes, 4 hours!), Sammi laid down for some quiet time. She ended up playing games on my iPhone for quite awhile. I watched a movie on Jason's laptop and Jason went fishing. So much for the great outdoors!

Joshua woke up in the greatest mood! Whew.

We then met Jason where he was fishing off a covered dock. Thank goodness for some shade. We really picked the wrong days to go "camping" in 100+ degree weather.

I have no idea what they are doing here. Oh yea, they were singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" I love hearing him sing.

My cutie patootie.

Awe, they really DO love each other! Well, most of the time.

There was this cool crane (is that even a crane? I'm guessing) watching us fish the entire time. After we left, he walked over to where we were to stake his claim. The kids loved watching him.

More fishing...

Minus the heat and staying indoors most of the time, we had a great time just being together. We left Saturday morning on the 4th to spend the day swimming at my dad's. Next time we are going in the fall!!

Friend Makin' Monday - Vacation Edition

Happy Monday! Jolanthe at No Ordinary Moments is hosting today's FMM, which is all about vacations. I was excited to see the topic because who doesn't love a good vacation? I grew up going someplace EVERY summer. We drove to Colorado most summers, which I loved. One summer my dad changed things up and we went to Disney World. What a great trip that was! My dad loved to drive and my mom loved to stop at historical markers or just neat places along the way. I cherish the memories or our annual summer vacations.

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Today's task:

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This task has two parts . You can do either one or both ~ it's up to you!

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1. Tell us about the best {or worst} vacation that you've ever taken.

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2. Tell us FIVE places/vacations that you would like to take at some point your life. It doesn't have to be next year...maybe it's the vacation of a lifetime or somewhere you just dream of going years from now.

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I have a lot of great vacations I have been on. I honestly can't think of a bad one, although I am sure my parents might disagree. :) But the one that comes to mind that tops my list of great vacations is when Jason and I went to Boston and Cape Cod. It was right before we started our family, and I just look back at that as our last "care free" trip before kids came along. I don't have a picture of us there, as that was before every picture was digital. I did find this picture online that looked like so much of what we saw. We started out in Boston and Jason showed me around. He was stationed outside of Boston for 3 years when he was in the Army and I heard so many stories, so I really wanted to see what all he had been talking about for so long. The first night we asked the dude at the car rental place for a recommendation of a great bar. We were driving on the street to find it and I told Jason that I couldn't find the place called "Clocks". He started laughing and said we were looking for "Clarks". Oh yea, most Bostonians don't enunciate the "r". He drove me to his old Army base which was neat. Then we spent several days out in Cape Cod. Beautiful! I highly recommend going out there. So serene.

Top 5 Places I Would Like To Visit:

1. Anyplace in Europe. I have been to England, Wales, Scotland, but I would love to go to Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, The Netherlands...just take me anywhere in that continent!

2. Australia. I regret us not going out there when we had friends that lived there for a few years. But they were there when we were poor newlyweds. :)

3. Napa Valley. Wine. Enough said.

4. Alaska. I saw a show about traveling through Alaska and they showed these travel trains with glass ceilings so you can see the amazing trees and mountains. Ever since I saw that, I have been dying to go.

5. Puerto Rico. Several of my friends have gone there and told me how amazing it is. From the pictures I have seen, I want to go there myself!

So what is on your wish list?

Fun Game of Tag!

Who didn't love the game of tag as a kid? I certainly loved it. Any old made up game that we came up with out of boredom after church while waiting for our parents to stop gabbing so we can go home or waiting for the school bus. Looking back, some of those games were just odd. I chalk it up to just plain old boredom and being a kid.

But in the adult world, the new game of tag is on this here bloggy land. And I love it. I was tagged by my dear friend Becca at The Texas Darlings. It is a Photo Tag game and you have to pick the 6th photo in the 6th folder from your photos file then explain about the photo.

This picture was taken in August 2005. Sammi and I went to the Ft. Worth Zoo for the day. I was pregnant and took off a day from work to hang out with her, just the two of us. It was scorching hot and I definitely picked the wrong day to go to the zoo. But I promised her, so off we went. I even packed our picnic basket to have a picnic inside the zoo. I scratched that plan and we ate inside the air conditioned car instead. I love looking at her in this picture. She is just so well accessorized with her matching bow, visor on backwards (not sure why she did that), sunglasses, and her polished toe nails. So like a tom boy with a hint of girly. You can see on her face how hot she was by how red it is. To this day, she still talks about the picnic we had in the car. I love that she remembers it as being fun for her.

Now tag 5 friends:

Allison at All Things A

Jennifer at Stuff About Jennifer

Amy at The Bryant House

Marcia at The Hensley Happenings

Angie at Just Shy of a "Y"

Ok, now I really need to get back to work!

Friend Makin' Monday

I love Mondays because it means I get an excuse to blog about something AND I am given the topic for which to blog about. Woo-Hoo! Today's is perfect because I have a lot on my mind and this is giving me a reason to think about something else.

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Today's Friend Makin' Monday topic is My Favorite Things. I love this! Who can't think of at least 5-10 things that they just love? It can be a person, place, thing...just anything that is your favorite. I did this several months ago in a different post, so I had to come up with things that I didn't already mention. And I came up with such a huge list that I had to whittle it down. I guess I have a lot of things I love!

In no particular order, 10 of My Favorite Things:

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iPhone. How did I live my life before this hand-held goodness was invented? I just can't say enough about how amazing this phone is.

Burt's Bees chap stick. I love this chap stick. Love, love, love it.

Almonds. I am now addicted to these. I just discovered them (call me a late-bloomer, I don't care) last month to eat alone and I can't get enough! I feel good eating a handful (or two or three or four) of these and not thinking that they will make my rear get any bigger. Trust me, it doesn't need any help!

Chi flat iron. I have naturally curly hair and tried various ways to straighten my hair over the years and never had any luck. Enter the Chi. Even on slightly humid days it stays straight. My original one broke late on a Sunday (I dropped it and the heating plate was broke loose) and I rushed out to Target to get another one. They were sold out so I thought I would try another brand. I was almost in tears the next day when it wouldn't straighten my hair. Needless to say, I went to a beauty supply store that night to get a Chi. I didn't care what it would cost, I would have paid whatever they asked just to have one again. I love it that much.

Chuy's restaurant. Not to steal a phrase from Rachel Ray, but this place is Yum-O to me. Have you had the creamy jalapeno dressing to dip your chips in? If not, then you must do it if you are ever at this place...that is if you are in the Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, or Houston Texas area. :)

Clorox wipes. They are under every sink in my house. I love having them to do a quick wipe down of a counter top, faucet, toilet, etc.

Hair clips. This isn't the exact one I use, but I have them in my purse, bag, car, nightstand, etc because I use one daily. I have long hair and hate having it on my neck when it is hot outside. So being in TX, it is a must for me.

Movies! I love going to the movie theater. I can also go alone, I have no problem with that at all. I just love seeing movies on the BIG screen.

Roomba. I love this thing! I can program it to go off and vacuum my floors when I gone during the day. I love coming home to vacuumed floors. It scared my 3 year old at first, but now he thinks it is cool to watch go all over the house. And I love that it finds it's dock when the battery is low to get a recharge.

Cokes from Sonic. What do they put in there to make them so good? Is it the large straw? Is it the crushed ice? Do they put drugs in there to make them so addictive? Whatever it is, I love them. But they do not help me in my quest to not drink Coke so much! I really don't drink them a ton, just more than I should. So when I am craving one, it does not help me to pass a Sonic!

That was fun. Cue the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music...so what are YOUR favorite things? Are any on my list yours too?