Big week

OK, so I know I haven't blogged in a long time. I'm sorry. I just haven't felt like it. Have you ever felt that way?

Here's what's happening with us, briefly: Chris still works at Technicolor, I still stay home with Emma, Emma is still growing like a weed, and Norbert is still fuzzy and cute.

Chris's college roommate came to visit recently for a few days. Emma loves "Uncle" Andy. She had so much fun when he was here.

I'm working on getting pictures of Emma with her friends so I can make a new Shutterfly book. Here are some of my favorites so far.

This week is a big week. We leave for Indiana early on Thursday morning. Thus Emma's doing a pre-make-up dance class Monday afternoon, since her normal class is on Thursday mornings. We have My Buddy and Me class on Tuesday morning. I need to do lots of laundry and pack early because I'm going to the New Kids on the Block concert with a friend on Wednesday night. So, big week and I'm a little stressed, but it will be fine.

That's all for now. More later.

Funny Emma quote of the day: (while playing, seemingly out of nowhere) "I love chicken parmesan!"

The new car

So here it is. Chris's new vehicle, the Land Rover LR3. It's beautiful, and fun to ride in. It's even more fun to drive, though I only test drove it once. So here it is...

And here's the cockpit (not just a driver's seat, look at all the dials and knobs and stuff)...

And here's Emma. She loves it.
That's all for now. More later with photos of Emma and her new bed.

Funny Emma quote of the day: "I have the wake-ups." (the hiccups)

The time has come

Chris' Explorer is on its last leg. So we are going car shopping today. Wish us luck!

We ordered Emma a big girl bed! It's a gorgeous, twin daybed with a trundle bed underneath. It's really pretty. I took a picture in the store with my cell phone of Emma sitting on the bed. She looks like, as Angie Gergely put it, a little peanut in the big bed. I got a great deal on the bed. For the bed and trundle (minus mattresses and stuff), I paid $299. And because I got it the day after Labor Day, they still had the sale going on that I didn't have to pay tax! Wow!

My cell phone takes nice pictures, don't you think? I was pleasantly surprised by the good quality.

Emma already picked out bedding for her new bed, even though we don't have the bed yet. We were at Wal-Mart and saw this cute patchwork quilt-looking comforter and matching throw pillow. She chose purple sheets. It will look nice. I can't wait to get the bed into her room and get it all made up for her. Oh, and the best part about the new comforter? It was originally $42 and I got it for $17!

That's all for now. More later.

Funny Emma quote of the day: "I want to watch dance cass [class] on the TEEvee."
(It took me a minute to figure out what she meant. She wanted to watch a dancing workout video.)

Great restaurant

We went big girl bed shopping yesterday morning, and while we didn't find one, we did find a great restaurant that is now tops on our list. It is Wood Ranch Bar and Grill. Chris wanted to go to a place where we could sit down and order, and we happened to drive past the place and thought we'd try it out.

We got in just before the lunch rush, which is always nice. The first thing was that the hostess gave us two white napkins folded up with adult silverware (a fork and a steak knife) and one red napkin folded up with kid silverware (a smaller, kid-sized fork and a spoon), along with the kid menu Emma could color on and 4 crayons.

She also asked if we would like a complimentary toddler plate. We didn't know what it was, exactly, but we said yes because who passes up a complimentary anything? They brought out a small plate with a small cup of Cheerios, two slices of fresh orange and one tiny banana. I've never seen bananas that small. It was a whole banana, but it was just the right size for a little one. I need to find out where to get those!

So that alone made Wood Ranch a great place, but the food was fantastic. I had grilled salmon and steamed broccoli (Emma ate a lot of my broccoli. She loves broccoli. It's crazy.). Chris had tri-tip and a loaded baked potato. Emma had grilled cheese and mashed potatoes. All of it was really, really good.

So, for all who live out here in Cali (I think Wood Ranch is in CA only), go to Wood Ranch. If any of you come out to visit us, we'll probably take you there. :)

That's all for now. More later.

Funny Emma quote of the day: (Holding up a large piece of broccoli) "That's a big tree!"

NKOTB mania

It's back, my friends. In a big way.

Tonight, for example, the New Kids on the Block were at the Best Buy in Burbank signing autographs for the 650 fans who pre-ordered their new CD from that store, which went on sale this morning at 10 a.m. I did not order the CD, so I didn't have a special pass to get to wait in the ridiculously long line to get their autograph, but I was in the store when they got there.

My friend, Jenn, and I had planned to go down there to get a glimpse this evening. To do so, we were going to meet Chris for dinner after work (since he works in Burbank) at Olive Garden, which is in the same shopping plaza as the Best Buy. Jenn couldn't make it, as her hubby's out of town and her 9-month-old seems to be teething and was inconsolable this afternoon.

Emma and I met Chris for dinner, then we got finished and Emma wanted desperately to ride home with Daddy. So Chris said it was fine for me to go ahead to Best Buy to see if I could see my guys. So I went over and found that I wasn't the only one who had the idea. I made friends with a few other ladies who were doing the same thing as me. We chatted and stood by the laptops pretending to shop so we could try to get a good view of the guys as they came in.

There was a little confusion as to where they were coming in, but when they did come through, it was pandemonium. Holy crap. You've never seen 30- and 40-year-old ladies pushing and shoving each other around like that unless it was the day after Thanksgiving at the mall. Craziness.

Since I'm short, I couldn't get very good photos, but I talked a nice Best Buy employee into getting up close and getting me some good photos. It was awesome. Here are some of the pics he got for me.
Here are all the photos from my time at Best Buy this evening. It was tons of fun. I felt like a teeny-bopper again, all squealy and giddy.

I can't wait to go to the concert in October!

That's all for now. More later.