March happenings....

It seems like there isn't a whole going on at our house, but then I look back and time has flown. Mike has been busy as ever with school, Park Board and Elks stuff. Somehow, after over 6 years of being a couple, you would think that I would have figured out that he is perpetually busy. It's good though. As they say, it keeps him out of trouble. I have also been busy. I am still trying to get my head on straight at my new job, keep up with Ben, our house and grad school and then just for fun, I decided to throw the GRE into that mix. For those that aren't familiar with it, the GRE is something that graduate schools use to test your level of commitment to a graduate degree and to torture you. Actually, it's the Graduate Record Examination and it measures analytical, verbal and quanititative skills. I took it this morning and I think I did okay. I did as well as I needed to do, anyway.

Aside from that life is all about keeping up with Ben! I have been thinking a lot about the fact that he is just not a baby anymore. He's turning into a toddler every day right before our eyes. It always blows my mind that there are instances where you can actually SEE him learning something. Being a parent is truly amazing. His latest "tricks" include dumping out drawers in the kitchen (he has graduated from cupboards), drinking his milk quite well from a cup and actually clapping along to several songs that he seems to be familiar with. One of his favorites is "Be Like a Duck" from the Philadelphia Chickens CD, which I highly recommend. It's not as annoying as other children's music, but you don't have the guilt factor of making your children listen to 80's hair bands like I often do. The CD is a music set to many of Sandra Boynton's books, which Ben loves!

In other developments, Ben celebrated his second St. Patrick's Day, which Mom and Dad used to celebrate with green beer, but now we feel lucky just to get to bed early and enjoy 8 hours of uninterrupted snoozing. We did get him a shirt so that we at least felt festive. If you can't read the writing, it says "I got your pot of gold right here." Mike found this shirt to be hilarious, since the "I got your_____ right here" is one of his signature lines. It's so much fun forcing your likes/dislikes on your children who are too young to protest!


Aside from that, our only other big news is the new furniture we ordered for our family room. It should be here in the next couple weeks. It's a small leather sectional for our basement. We also plan to do some serious rearranging in there to make the TV watching experience more enjoyable for everyone! We also plan to host a Wii party when we get things in order. Here's looking forward to that!

My love of office supplies

So, as you may know, I started a new job about a month ago. With a new job, comes a new office and in order to start in a new office, one usually needs new office supplies. I have learned about so many cool new office products from my co-workers and now feel the need to share them with others. The first is Built computer sleeves. I haven't decided yet, but I think I am going to get this one for my laptop. So cute! I have also come out of my sheltered existence and started using Microsoft Office 2007. I don't know about you all, but I love it so far. I find it to be way more user friendly than any of the previous versions. At first I was mad that I had to relearn where everything is, but I have quickly learned to love it. I am so enjoying a work environment where I actually have a budget and am able to get a few little things to make my life at work a wee bit more enjoyable. Office supplies make me smile.

Winter sucks

So the last few months have been crazy busy for us, just like everyone else, so I haven't been very good about updates, or taking pictures. Whoops. I am going to blame it on the winter. It's that time of year where I would give anything to go for a long walk by the river and just take in an hour or two of fresh air. Cabin fever doesn't begin to describe my feelings this time of year. In an effort to curb my feelings of self pity and negativity, I am going to try to name five things that I like about winter.

1. I like wearing turtlenecks. (though after 5 months of it, it gets old)
2. I like Christmas and everything about it, and Christmas happens in the winter.
3. I like snuggling up next to a fire when it's cold out.
4. I enjoy a nice, hot Starbucks latte when it's cold out.
5. I don't like being hot, and I stay pretty cool during the winter....

There. I think that helped. And in a further gesture of good will, I will post a cute video of Ben to make you smile.