did you know...

that monday is mary's 2nd birthday? *gasp* i can't believe it either. i mean, seriously, i cannot believe it. wasn't it just yesterday she turned one? and then a few weeks before that she was so tiny brent could have her resting in just one arm? remember when she was smaller than tiggy (though admittedly, that's not so difficult with our cat)? well, alas, she is a toddler now. she's so stinkin big and full of girly attitude (that's not a good thing), wanting to be 16 before she can fully talk...

*sigh*

so in case any of you were wondering, mary saw something she really wants:

just kidding. that's a kindle, and consequently, what i want. for christmas, birthday, just because...ahem.

seriously though, what mary wants is this:

Yo Gabba Gabba toddler bedding!!

or

Yo Gabba Gabba soundtrack (i even entered a contest through gabbafriends...wow i'm awesome)

in other news, stacey and kyle had their baby on wednesday; londyn faith kozlowski is among us. and mary is not happy about it. upon holding the tiny bundle of joy, mary's face scrunched up in the most tragic face you've ever seen. she was also emitting what sounded like whimpers, all while huge, fat tears ran down her face. i gave londyn back to stacey, much to the relief of mary. when i suggested i hold the baby again, mary shook her head profusely and climbed on my lap. if i tried to get up, she'd pull me back onto the couch and climb over me again. cute but troublesome at the same time. she's made known that another baby is not welcome in the near future.

londyn is doing well. she looks like her daddy. apparently the kozlowski gene is strong. very strong. and stacey and kyle have never looked happier. i know londyn will bring them so much joy! and mary will for sure keep the tiny one in check. :)

sorry this doesn't have any "real" pictures. but monday, depending on how my cake works out, there will be shots of that. and, if weather permits, you should be seeing some concerning mary's bday trip to Cornbelly's and Pirate Island. argggg she's gonna have a great birthday!

kitchen warrior

i know, i know, i know. i suck. in my defense...ok so i don't have one. still, i'm sorry. to make up for my lack of updating, may i present: "Cake Pops: the making of"

i don't know if any of you are familiar with bakerella's blog. but she has these amazing cake pops that i have been admiring for awhile. i bought a ton of materials in order to make them back...oh man, awhile ago. i had every intention of doing eggs for easter but time got away from me. halloween, though, happens to be the ideal time for my creative attempts in the kitchen.

so, it all started with baking the cake, letting it cool, crumbling it up and adding a jar of frosting. when i do this again, i dont' think i'll use the entire jar as it seemed a bit too mushy. the mixture gets cooled in the fridge until it firms up, shaped then put in the freezer to harden. when that's complete you get lollipop sticks, dip them in melted chocolate, and stick them in the balls. i wish i had taken pics of each step. but honestly, my hands were covered in cake goop so it wasn't really a possibility.

i actually made balls for pumpkins and...i guess bell shapes? for ghosts. plus i had white and orange melting chocolate to use. so...the white chocolate somehow melted in the pantry and rehardened. that made remelting it a pain and not as smooth. so much so that the ghosts fell apart in the chocolate. i am retrying those tomorrow. the pumpkins stood up better. but again, i think i used too much frosting so they started to soften a bit too much in the hot chocolate. observe:

once i got the hang of things, the pumpkins looked better. though i still got some funky looking ones. and i couldn't find an edible pen in any of the stores that sold baking supplies...which made decorating the face a bit challenging. what do you think?

BOO!

mary really liked helping. in fact, she was very adament about yelling "HOT" whenever i stirred the chocolate. such a little helper. and i'm pretty sure she was hoping to eat something. i know brent was. he got all my rejects, as in the crappy ones that i threw in the cake pan. mary really enjoyed carrying around the cake pops, modeling them for the camera:

and for those of you in the pharmacy who read this: um, well, i'm gonna have to bring them in on thurs. i need to do another batch because i'm pretty sure only 1/2 of the ones i made are good enough to give away to people!

just when i think she can't possibly get cuter...

i'm proved wrong, wrong, wrong. mary's hair is getting so stinking long now. and you know what that means...mommy can finally do something with it. our little baldie has beautiful long-ish locks of red (bordering strawberry blonde) hair. i went out and bought little hair ties. at first mary was apprehensive. you want to do what with my hair? but after brushing it all back in a cute ponytail, she's discovered how much she loves getting her hair did. now she comes to me with one of the cute tiny elastics, head bowed down so i have better access. the only cuter things than mary ponies is mary piggies. observe:

"where's all my hair at?"

"oh there it is!"

now what goes better with new hair than new shoes? always the connoisseur of fine foot fashion, mary discovered some beautiful heels given to me by gma koz. she's already learned how to strut her stuff on the proverbial cat walk too.

last week, brent and i had wednesday off together. we decided to take a trip up to thanksgiving point so mary could visit the petting zoo. we arrived and of course mary needed a diaper change from all the power drinking she was doing in the backseat. she was not thrilled at the ide aof me changing her in the bathroom. she threw an all out hissy fit, crying and kicking and carrying on, until she realized resistance was futile. still, those big tears had rolled down her cheek. brent got an especially sweet shot of me wiping away her temper tantrum induced tears.

afterwards, we decided to head indoors to cool off just a bit. it was hot outside. ugh. so we took a detour by the ice cream shop and got a banana split for all three to share. i didn't realize how big the thing was. mary, seeing deliciousness in sight, had only one thought running through her head, "mine."

after eating ourselves silly and probably consuming an entire day's worth of caloric intake in one go, we needed to burn off some of the sugar and such. mary took that to heart, running ahead of us, trying to pick the flowers...yeah not such a good idea...and generally not wanting us to slow her down. i tried to take a cute picture of mary and daddy passing under one of the foliage covered arches. mary wanted none of that. boosome of you may know, and some may not, but i took my bridals at thanksgiving point. pearson's photos had a pass to go and shoot up the scene. in general, i wasn't the biggest fan of my pictures, though i'm not sure it was because of the man behind the camera or the woman in front of it. one shot did please me and that would be the picture of me dipping my toe in the stream right before you reach the "hidden falls." in case you haven't seen it, here (and this is being shown for a purpose, not because i want you to stare at me in my wedding dress)
remember what that rock that i'm standing on looks like...got it in your mind? get ready for it...

i had to convince mary it was ok to actually touch the water, because she wasn't a fan at the idea of coming anywhere near it. in fact, she actually screamed bloody murder. she got over it, obviously. i only wish the angle of the picture had been the same as my bridal, for the full effect; though there were no blooming branches this day. too bad. still, mary and me dipping our toes in the water is pretty sweet, if you ask me.
after the toe dipping, mary was enthralled by the water. she kept stopping on bridges and getting excited when she saw the water falls. silly girl

well...we got sidetracked in the gardens. mary loves flowers. a lot. she sees one and yells "flower" (just not so clearly) and leans in to sniff, making the cutest little snuffling noise you've ever heard.

i tried to get mary to sit down with me in the shade, because like mentioned previously, it was so stinking hot. nope. she was having none of that. so more sniffing/too-close-for-comfort picking ensued.so we never made it to the animals. darn. though we are planning a return trip. this time, we'll have to avoid the gardens at all costs!

Ode to Doggie

I promised this was coming. Now I'm delivering.

~ODE TO DOGGIE~

Oh carefully constructed bits of polyester and cotton that make up your existence, where would we be today without you? Did you know, from the first time held close to a tiny babe, that you would be cherished? That you would be so well loved, you'd be hardly recognizable in later days?

When first you were unwrapped, there was an instant connection. It's clear to see:

Even still, the bond was not evident until several weeks later, when a rather cantankerous Mary was in need of comfort. You were close at hand, Doggie, soft and small and warm; a perfect little snuggie for the tiny one.

Even here, you were already more loved than when we first got you. If we had any idea just how much Mary would come to depend on you, Gma and Gpa Lub would've gotten a few of your "brothers and sisters" to help ease the wear and tear on your poor blanket body.

You were there for all of Mary's hardships: gas, teething, upset stomach, diarrhea. Not once did you complain, even when some of the bodily fluids as a result of Mary's illnesses got on you. Such a stoic, compassionate doggie you are.

Now after nearly two years, you are well versed in trial and tribulation. From being accidentally lost in Walmart to being dragged on the dirty ground, you have taken a beating. And your body shows it. That doesn't matter to Mary though. She still needs you to sleep at night, and to comfort her when she's upset. If you are not there, Mary is ill at ease.

Here are just some of the precious moments you have shared with our little girl.

Thank you, Doggie, for being the strong presence that you are in Mary's life. Truly without you, we would all be lost. We hope to have many more years with you and your easing presence on our daughter.
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ok, sorry for the sillines, but doggie *is* a huge part of not just Mary's, but both Brent's and my, life. And I seriously do not know what will happen when the thing finally disintegrates during the spin cycle of our washing machine. *fingers crossed* she outgrows him before that happens.

Later this week (hopefully by tomorrow) I will have a "real" post for you. One involving piggies and posies (or some kind of flower anyway).

blarg...I stink at the updates

I don't have a very good excuse for the lack of updates this time. No more sickness or anything, I've just been a major procrastinator. Sorry. I'll try and make up for it by supplying a lengthy post. Does that make up for it?

Recently, like a little over a week ago? I got my hair "did." Remember when I said I was going to go blonde, blonde, blonde? Well, that fizzled out. I just can't keep up with it. My hair grows too fast and it's too expensive to do every 6 weeks or so. Instead of blonde, I went dark, though there are some blondes and reds underneath that peak out from layers in my hair. Here's a pic:
Dark suits me better, don't you think?

It's been so hot lately. I'm not sure exactly how bad, except for when I look at my laptop it says it's 104 degrees. Ew. Ugh. Yuck. It's so hot, it's hard to stay outside long enough for Mary to play. However, yesterday we went outside to wash our cars. We had a lot of fun, except for Mary who yelled when we tried to splash her (though later she was having a ball running through the sprinkler...go figure). Brent and I got burned. I laughed at him at first because I saw his back and told him he should've used a stronger SPF (as if SPF 15 is really anything). Well, later that night as i changed into pajamas I noticed how red I was. And worst of all, the tanline from the back of my swimsuit is just awful. The ties that go around my neck are not thin. So there is a big white spot at the top from them. Good grief. I would've taken pictures...but, as previously stated, I was in a swimsuit. Me in a swimsuit does not equal good photo ops. Also, it was just a dangerous idea to have something expensive and electronic near water, especially when Mary is concerned. That thing would've probably ended up in the bucket of soapy water.

So instead, here's a video of Mary being her normal charming self: yelling at me for trying to videotape her...along with pushing Daddy off the couch.

Sometimes Mary feels gracious in sharing her couch. It happens when she is feeling particularly lazy. Either Brent will be sitting on the couch and she'll squeeze herself in between him and the couch, or she'll crawl up there. That is the best part because she will bring doggie and blankie up with her, lean back ont he pillows then pull blankie over her legs so she can fully relax. A lot of times she ends up patting the spot next to her telling one of us to sit next to her. Which brings me to...

Mary is talking. A lot. You may not believe it because she's pretty tight lipped whenever she's around people. I swear she's trying to make me look bad as a parent. Here are some of the new things she's saying:
sit
love you
yo babba (that means yo gabba gabba)
blankie
paci (aka her binky...this scares me as we had been trying to ween her off the blasted thing)
"a bite" (said when she wants to eat something or if she is trying to feed one of us)
please/thank you
goodnight
toes, nose, eye (while pointing at said body part. she's so smart!)
juice
popsicle (tho that sounds like oskle or something...good thing I know her special brand of baby talk)
wow wow wubzy (which saddens me because I HATE that show with a passion)
Dora/Diego
brush (she loves "brushing" her teeth)
hmmmm I know there are more that I just can't think of at the moment.

Mary has reached the point where she can climb into the tub, albeit very slowly and hesitantly. This makes things extremely difficult when I'm trying to get the bath ready for her. Or when she walks into the bathroom and decides for herself that she needs to get in. Mary is just a super fan of baths. She's also a super fan of running around naked after the bath. Here she is naked, loving Daddy

That's all for now. I think next post will be a tribute to Mary's favorite thing ever. Be on the look out for Ode to Doggie.

Mmm...popsicles and HP6!!!

Thanks for everyone who expressed concern about Mary and me while we were sick. While I am still trying to get rid of a sore throat and cough, I am feeling better. Mary bounced back awhile ago, the little stinker.

We have a big bag of popsicles in our freezer from the virus that plagued us. Mary has discovered that popsicles are REALLY good. She also knows where they are kept. It is not uncommon for her to go running into the kitchen, directly to the fridge, and pointing up to the freezer while asking "please." And heaven forbid you try and say no to the Mary. She blows a gasket. For whatever reason, she thinks limiting her popsicle intake to one a day is absurd.

One evening, after dinner while Mary was enjoying her dessert (aka a popsicle), I started playing music to wash the dishes to. Mary decided to get her groove on while chomping away. She even started to sing along, though naturally stopped that kind of behavior once the camera was rolling. Still, we managed to capture her being cute. You'll probably hear me say something along the lins of "you know i'm recording this, right?" towards the end. That's because Brent started to sing along to encourage Mary, and brent's not too fond of his singing. He probably woudn't want me posting this, but upon further listening/viewing I've realized you can barely hear him.

Tiggy has found a new favorite place to sleep. Whenever Mary sees him she screams "TIGGY!" then points and laughs at how silly our cat is. I'll let the picture do the talking.

Moving on.

As many of you know, I absolutely adore Harry Potter. When I was preggo, I went to wait in line at Borders for the 7th book's release...by myself no less since Brent was in Vegas (man did I feel lame that night). Anyway, that's how much I love that series.

So you can imagine how pumped up I was for the release of the 6th movie: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Even better was working with some girls who were equally as excited as I. So the night tickets went on sale, Valerie bought midnight showing tix for Rachel and me.

We even geeked it out and made shirts to show our love. After much searching on the internet, we found a couple phrases/quotes relating to the series to use. I was inspired by a YouTube parody of the Snuggie Blanket. You can't see the back, which is in my opinion the best part, so let me just tell you what it says. On the front: SPOILER ALERT. On the back: SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE.

I cracked myself up over it. Though I was slightly nervous that on the off chance there would be people there that had not read the books already, some people would be mad. No worries though, I emerged from the theater unscathed.This is what I liked about the movie:
-Slughorn (they did a marvelous job casting him. In the book i didn't much care for him. In the movie I loved him.)
-Ronald Weasley (I have always loved Ron's character. Rupert Grint has succeeded, in my opinion, at taking the character and really making him come alive)
-The budding romances between Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione
-Dumbledore and the fire to escape the Inferi

This is what I didn't like about the movie:
-Random scenes being added in that are NO WHERE in the book
-A rather lack lustre first kiss between Harry and Ginny
-Not enough Dumbledore time
-Lack of explanations on some more crucial points of the plot

But all together, I really enjoyed it. Brent is "making" me go see it a second time with him soon. I think I will enjoy it more the second time as I won't be sitting on the edge of my seat wondering what they were going to do with the story.

So go see HP and the HBP! Support Harry Potter, the "Chosen One." You know you wanna...

Our New Place

So this is Brent. Stephanie is still feeling under the weather; so I am putting up a few quick pics of our new place. These pics are all of the inside of our place. We haven't taken pics from the outside and its currently 12:30 am. So those will have to wait for our next post. Hopefully Steph will be all better by then too. Anyways, here are the pics.

So here is our living room:

And here is our kitchen and dining room:

Notice that Mary's high chair is now at the dinner table. She loves sitting at the table with mommy and daddy eating her meals or doing an art project. Its actually really funny...when we're getting her food ready for her, she stands by her high chair saying up (that's her way of asking to be put in the high chair).

So thats our new place. We love it here! It is so much bigger than our old place and there is a great fenced in backyard for Mary to play in. They even have a little play house and a few other toys for Mary to play with. Again, next post we will have pics of the outside. Sorry. But here are a few pics of Mary being Mary.

She loves to try and take pictures with our old camera.

I was also trying to post a video but for some reason it wouldn't work. So Steph will have to do that next time.