Change in Drewisms

Used to be the Alphabet song ended in no by, no by, no by no. Now it ends in - Now I know my ABCs next time on't you sing with me! notice won't is missing a little something!

Oh, and another great one.... There was a farmer had a dog and Bingo was his name oh! B-My-N-G-O, B-My-N-G-O, B-My-N-G-O and Bingo was his name oh!

And if I could translate John, Jacob, Jinglehimer Schmidt I would! 'nuff said 'bout that one!

I'll never ever be two again?

So yesterday was Drew and Mike's birthday. We went to dinner at Real Seafood Co. Mike's favorite place for birthday dinners. We were supposed to be there three years ago, but ended up at St Joes instead. On Monday night, I told Drew I wanted a hug because it will be the last time I ever get to hug him when he's two. His answer? Why I'm never ever going to be two again, mom? I said because tomorrow you'll be three. Every year you get a year older. You always get older. Just like daddy will be 38 tomorrow! He'll be older too. OK, I'll give you a hug mom, cuz I'll never ever be two again! And of all the choices he had for dinner, he picked the bread...4 pieces of it. It really is good bread, but so is everything else on the menu. He'll learn!

A little break from Drewisms & A Tribute to my "favorite" aunt

Of course I love all my aunts and they know what I mean. I thought this would be a good day to say thanks and pay a tribute to a very special one with a few things she's taught me.

A Thank You for the things I’ve learned from my Aunt Cindy:

Do what you love, even if it’s painful – Trip to the FL panhandle where the sun goddess got a little too much sun, even for Cindy! And drove back in a hurricane – for the love of sun and vacation!

Have fun or sleep comfortably! On a trip to Toronto we had the choice – stay and have fun for one more day and sleep in the car, or leave in enough time to get home to bed. We chose fun and she was happy to oblige!

Remember the fun, family times! Can’t tell you how many times Cindy would recall Thanksgiving in LA and the desire to do it again!

Travel the country and the world! Well I haven’t traveled the world yet, but I did get to experience two of the best places in the country with (and because of) Cindy – Seattle and New Orleans – what magical places they are.

Music – enjoy it all! My mom listened to Jazz but I learned to enjoy it with Cindy. And -she took me to the Culture Club concert when we were roomies.

The car is a perfectly fine way to travel. I don’t think I’ve ever known someone so willing to get in a car and go – Anywhere!

Mileage – cars may have computers these days, but Cindy still likes the old method Grandpa used. Write down the mileage when you fill up. It’s a good way to make sure something isn’t wrong with the car.

Don’t rush in to things and don’t sit around when things aren’t going the way you’d like! Now here’s a hard one for me since I’m the stable type who doesn’t like change. Cindy has shown me that if the job isn’t going the way it should, it’s ok to leave and follow your passion. Like I said – still working on this one.

Games – always thinking out of the box on this one. From the folder games in elementary school, to games like Wizards, she always has fun things to do. I think I channeled some of that in Dallas last week, when we got creative with tree branches, a ball and some yard edging…makes for perfect peewee hockey! Thanks Cindy!

Life doesn’t have to be organized, as long as it doesn’t stress you out. Another one I’m working on!

Teachers are special! Enough said really.

Food – you can eat big black trash bags full of popcorn at the movies if you know somebody! Road trips - salt and vinegar potato chips. New Orleans - jambalaya, snow cones. Seattle – coffee and beer. :>

There are always free or cheap activities around! Movie in the park in Seattle. Concerts in the park. Just read the Observer.

Thank you for opening my world to so many new experiences. I Love You!
xoxo, Stacie

Bowling Birthday Here We Come!

Since the big 3 is coming up faster than I can imagine, we asked Drew what he would like to do for his birthday party...bowling or Chuck e Cheese? bowling!!!! Can't you just see it? - a bunch of preschoolers trying to bowl. I really need to remember the video camera for this one. Next dilemma - who do we invite? Of course, we want all of our friends' kids to come so that's a no brainer. It's so nice having all the kids about the same age. Next, school...hmmm, can't just invite one or two kids from the class, so I guess we'll invite them all (not too bad - only 5 more). So anyway, I finally got the invites done and we took them to school for the kids in his preschool class. I told Drew that not everyone at school would get an invite because the toddlers and infants are too young and little to play. But big strong boys like Drew get to bowl. He's very excited but doesn't really want to give up the invites yet. So his teacher Miss Erin says she will help him put them in the mailboxes later. Then the doorbell rings and one of the toddlers and his mom come in. Drew blurts out - You can't go bowling because you are too little! To which I am now mortified and his teacher is laughing. I tell him that we don't need to talk about it and promptly leave before any more conversation about bowling. And as I'm walking out I start thinking about all the hurt feelings (Drew's and others) to come over birthday parties for years to come. Why does no one talk about these things BEFORE we have kids?! And lord, how do these things get so out of hand so quickly!?

A Little Tough Love Goes A Long Way!

The scene - a cold, snowy winter weekend. Dad - gone snowmobiling. Mom - home with Drew. Can you see where this is going???? So we had a great weekend but were going a bit stir crazy Saturday night. So we decided to go to Target, of course. Drew is, partially trying to push some buttons and partially inquisitive and taking full advantage that mom's a bit tired of saying Drew all day and trying to shop. So we check out at Target and trek through the snowy, slippery parking lot. Of course, my remote for the car now has a dead battery and I HAVE to unlock the front door to open the back door and Drew is not in the cart because it's full of stuff. So, as cutely devilish as he can be, he inches toward the front bumper of the Jeep. I, in a stern voice, say, Drew, come on! It's cold, I have to put the stuff in the back and you have to get in the car! Ever so slowly, he inches toward the car, as if to say, I'm gonna run from you mom. I, more sternly, say, DREW COME ON! and start to take a step, and with that, he takes off to the front of the car. Remember, slippery, snowy parking lot. And now, a car coming down the next lane...CRAP! Drew, STOP!!!! Get back here NOW! I skate around to the other side of the car, where at this point, he's trying to get back to where he was, and I'm having a freakin' heart attack. I finally catch up to him, back in his original spot as he's saying, Mom, I'm trying to come back! Now luckily we've bought him a winter coat that has a fleece liner and a winter exterior. It just so happens the outer shell is not zipped - perfect handles! I grab both sides of those "handles" get right down to his level and YELL, a lot! Blah, blah, cars, snow, scared mom, hurt Drew, slippery, snow, CARS, HURT, DREW...you get the idea! To which his cute face turns to fear and he starts BALLING!!! Perfect, I've done my job! I'd probably be more happy but my blood pressure is still through the roof and the adrenaline has not worn off yet. I scoop him up, put him in his car seat, and shut his door. Proceed to the back, open it, only to hear lots of crying (doesn't matter tho, I'm still hot!). Slam the back shut, move the cart, and finally get in the car. Mom, I don't want you to yell at me...whimper, whimper, sniffle! Well you know what Drew? I'm going to! THAT IS NOT OK! YOU CAN NOT RUN OUT IN THE ROAD blah, blah, blah, do you understand me!?! Yes, mom. Sorry mom! Mom, can I open my window so I can let the snow in? NO! ok, mom. I love you mom! OK, buddy you can open your window, but I'm still mad! thanks, mom. Hey look it's snowing in here! Can we play memory when we get home? (I'm still rolling my eyes!)

I won't cry for you guys!

You just never know who you're gonna get these days. Two weeks ago we were getting ready to go to bowling and Julie, the babysitter next door, came over to play with Drew. He cried for 5 minutes, to the point where I knew if he didn't stop, he would be throwing up all over me. Daddy gets him settled down and off we go, after we make it very clear to Julie, as always, call us if he isn't fine after we leave. Of course, he is, but ya know. Enter last Saturday night...mom, I want Julie to come play with me. She will, this evening. mom...I WANT Julie to come play with me. So we call. She's running late and her big sis Trina is going to come over for a while before Julie gets there. Drew is not happy...he does not want Trina, he wants Julie. And so I thought - here we go again. Then Trina says, Julie will be over in a few minutes, she's just finishing her shower. And like that, Drew is fine and says, I won't cry for you guys tonight, mom and like that we are headed to the door and he's headed off for a game of Life. He stops, turns and says, have a good time, mom! And like I said, you never know who you're gonna get. Don't get me wrong, I really like who I got on Saturday, I'm just afraid of a week from Saturday!

Can we make a pecial treat, NOW?

We finally went out and splurged on a new blender that can handle making smoothies. I thought this would be a good alternative to candy in the evening (since between Halloween and Christmas has run abundant). We already had frozen fruit from when I tried to make them with the old blender that spun the fruit instead of "smoothing" it! :> So we had our first on Monday (dad was still home) and they were good. The next day, Drew and I made them and added a umbrella straw to our special treat. Wednesday we added the whipped cream uncle Scott brought over for Christmas dinner, and of course the umbrella straw. Thursday night, Mike came home from Ohio and after Drew's bath, he asked if he could make 'pecial treats now. We said sure. So he slides his great Ikea stool over to the blender and grabs the measuring cup. Opens the freezer and gets the ice, then opens the yogurt, stirs it, adds that to the blender, gets two scoops of fruit, one of juice and breaks the banana in to the blender. Mike is, of course, looking at him like how in the he** do you know how to do that?! Then Drew looks at dad, um, this is the scary part, can you turn it on for me? Mike was just glad he could help with something!

Oh, same night...Mike thinks V8 would be a good thing for Drew to try (warm, out of the pantry). One sip and - YUCK, this is really not good. This is bad daddy. I don't like it. So he gets some berry juice and takes a sip...mmmm, much better daddy. this is much, much better!