and now for my final TRICK: 03/01/2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Happy Birthday, Holden!!!

How, how, how has four years flown by?

You are a little lady and just yesterday, you were a baby. I am so glad you let me cuddle, squeeze, and kiss you just as much now as you did 4 years ago!

You are so smart...you can write your name, count to 23, and make up elaborate stories forever... You are having pizza and yellow cake with pink icing for your birthday dinner...you use words like hideous, spectacular, and scrumdidleumptious in your everyday vocabulary... you want to be a doctor when you grow up in addition to singing and dancing on t.v....you STILL have purple baby and won't let me paint your thumb sucking thumb with nail polish (ruins the taste I guess)...

Well, I am at a loss for words today, so let's let the pictures tell our beautiful birthday girl's story!

You are a unique, brilliant, silly, sweet, independent, and loving. We couldn't be more proud of our daughter and the little lady you have become!

Now, I have to go on a Tinker hunt...That Tinkerbell has been flitting around here causing trouble all afternoon.....

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I know,Mom

It has been forever since a post....I am neglecting my usual motherly and wifely duties and throwing myself into Too Much Time! Laundry piled up on the floor (at least it's clean), freezer scraps for dinner, and most importantly I have not been posting on THIS oh so important blog.

We had a wonderful visitor last week, Mimi (my mom) came to town! As usual, we were too busy for too many pictures, and most of them are on her camera, but for me the highlight was Mimi and Holden baking cookies for her birthday party....and that one I caught on camera.

I was busy writing blog posts in the loft while those two lovely ladies slaved away in the kitchen. I quietly giggled to myself as I heard the running commentary....

"Yes, Holden you may eat the broken cookie."

"Holden, stop breaking the cookies just so you can eat them."

"Holden, powdered sugar belongs on the baking sheet, not the floor."

"Holden, powdered sugar is difficult to clean up."

"Holden, no throwing powdered sugar at Mimi."

At which point I ran downstairs, because I was missing all the fun! This is this devilish grin I caught!

DISCLAIMER: No guests of the party will be eating the cookies Holden touched. Her fun was kept separate from food anyone else will eat!

Notice the sugar all over her belly?! Hee Hee She IS a cookie monster!

And the big cookie mess!

Our visit was fabulous. It is so fun that the kids are both at ages to actually do fun things and participate in life! We all went to The Denver Childrens Museum and then had a picnic at the park next door, Mimi and Holden went to The Butterfly Pavilion and to see the movie Tangled! Ev hung out and hiked with Daddy, isn't he too cool?

Mom, Holden, and I had a girls morning and "tried" to get our nails done. Holden walked into the salon and announced she wanted purple sparkles and no one was to paint her thumb sucking thumb! However, she sat at a table by herself, while my mom was across the aisle and I was at a pedi chair in the back. Mom sauntered over to see how H was doing and she kept wiping her face with her jacket sleeve.

"Holden, do you want me to help you take off your jacket?"

"No, I just think I have tears in my eyes!"

Wah, wah, wah

She lost it. There was to be no nail painting that day. One of the owners son's was watching cartoons on his laptop and Holden slowly warmed up to him and joined in the Tom and Jerry watching fun. He shared cookies and candy with her and when I told her it was time to go to lunch, she sat down in the middle of the salon floor and declared she did not want to go anywhere! So, it turned out to be fun for her after all.

(No reason, just a cute shot)

On Mimi's last night, Amy came over to sit for us and we all went downtown for dinner at Maggianos (Thanks for the gift card, Frank and Marsha!). As we strolled down the 16th Street Mall I declared, "I am going to eat myself sick tonight!" And I did. I had a complete food hangover and felt like poop at about 11 pm, but it was AWESOME!

I was such a nice visit and we will be so happy to get back to PA for a visit in May ....for my TWENTIETH HIGH SCHOOL REUNION!

God!

I am so old...

Sunday, March 6, 2011

This and That

So, I have been totally slacking on this blog because I am working on my NEW blog!

www.kim-toomuchtimeonmyhands.blogspot.com

I am so excited about my new project and have vowed to Ian that within 2 months it will be making money. (I actually already won, because I made $2.40 so far with my Google adsense! haha) No, but seriously, it is doing pretty well.

It's a blog about decorating, repurposing, crafts, home and diy projects, and parties. I launched it about 3 weeks ago and up to 7,500 page views and 64 followers. I am in the process of giving free advertising space for one month. Sponsors usually pay between $10-$30 per month depending on the ad size. I just need to build up my followers and reputation and then I can start asking people for money-hee hee. So if any of you know someone who would be interested in a free spot on my site, please have them contact me and we can set it up!

Now, on to family business....Holden is a big wimp.

Friends watched Everett and we took just her skiing on Saturday. She was SO excited. Until we got there, got her dressed, traipsed to the restroom, got undressed, got dressed again, got back to the bunny hill, and this is how she looked.

I always thought badly of those people who made their miserable kids ski and dragged them up the lift, well, that was us. It was a bunch of planning and work to get there, and she was going to ski if we all did it crying.

She took the lift for the first time and it was hysterical to watch Ian try to get her safely seated. She was a complete slug....dead weight. But they were awfully cute while they rode.

Ian used a ski harness, so she didn't careen down the hill.

I am pretty sure he basically held her up the whole way down.

And it didn't hurt when she fell!

I can't be as much help on my snowboard, but I went down with them too!

She did 2 runs and refused another minute of it. So, I took her to the lodge for hot chocolate and pizza while Ian got to do a few laps. Even though it seemed a bit like a disaster, she said she loved it and is so proud of herself.

View all of our ski pics here

https://picasaweb.google.com/KimHanou/20110306#

On a side note, she told me today she wants to be in a movie. Hmm, after my previous post, you can she where this is a possibility! ha ha

And Everett...

He has a new favorite letter. The letter s is currently overtaking our lives. This boy is an oddball. He yells and shakes and points every time he sees the letter s. When I have a pen, pencil, or crayon in my hand he forces me to repeatedly write the letter s while he laughs and claps at the sheer beauty of it.Sadly, he learned the letter s before Holden.

We are also staging a "mine" intervention. Everything belongs to him. The snakes at the zoo. He guards the viewing window and will not let anyone else look at them while shouting, "mine snake!!!" If he is watching tv and someone says, "oh, what a good show" he throws himself in front of it and says, "mine tv!!!!" When Holden says, "I love you mommy," he pushes her away from me and yells, "mine mommy!!!"

What a fun stage! Ha Ha

Recent Reads

Honolulu by Alan Brennert- 4 Stars
A lovely tale told by a Korean woman who came to America as a "picture bride." We learn of her challenging and oppressive childhood in Korea, her journey away from all she knew, learning the new culture in Hawaii, escaping an abusive husband, becoming an entrepreneur, finding love, becoming a mother, and living a fulfilling life. I previously read Molokai by the same author and loved it, which is why I snatched this one up as soon as I heard of it. I think I enjoyed this one even more! The writing is smooth and easy, the tales are gripping, and the experiences are harrowing which keep you wanting more of this woman's incredible story.

The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha- 2 1/2 stars
This book is a collection of vignettes celebrating the awesome things in life. The cold side of your pillow on a hot night, finding money in your coat pocket, popping bubble wrap, when cashiers open up a new line at the grocery store, and watching Price is Right when you were home sick from school. This guy also has a blog where people can submit more awesomness. It was fun to read, but not as great as I was hoping. I will probably read his blog though, because he is pretty witty and definitely made me chuckle and remember to appreciate the small things in life.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson- 3 stars
PAGE TURNER! I read this in 1 1/2 days. The story begins with a woman waking up in a bed, next to a man, in a house and she recognizes none of it. Over the next few minutes she learns that she has amnesia and every night when she goes to be she forgets most of her life. She begins working with a psychiatrist who convinces her to write in a journal, so she can reread it each morning and hopefully begin to build memories. The mysteries of how she ended up in this condition and her relationships with friends and loved ones kept me on the edge of my seat.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - 4 1/2 Stars
Another winner here folks. This book was AWESOME (and a bit shorter than Cutting for Stone). This was a new perspective on World War II for me. The story follows a boy growing up in a Chinese household in Seattle during the war. He befriends a Japanese girl, which is STRICTLY forbidden by his domineering and emotionless father. He realizes he is in love with her just as her family is removed to a Japanese Internment camp for the remainder of the war. The stay in touch through letters and his enormous risks to visit her . I don't want to give away any more, but you simply HAVE to read this book. The relationships between the children and their families and even the public during these war years was an interesting perspective for me. The twists and turns kept me up till midnight and the ending was wonderful!

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese- 5 Stars
Oh my! I LOVED LOVED LOVED it. It was long and delicious and I did not want it to end. The premise is a nun working at a clinic in Ethiopia dies while giving birth to twin boys. The story explores the people and relationships in these boys' lives through the eyes of Marion, one of the twins. He grows up in the clinic in Ethiopia with amazing adoptive parents who were friends with his parents and gives us a taste of the culture, food, and everyday life of an Ethiopian. He heads to America to pursue a medical career and his birth father. We read this for book club and had wonderful and rich discussions...I wish there was a part 2!

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton- 3 stars
This was pretty darn good. It took me about 100 pages to really get into it and the ending was a bit too quick, neat, and tidy. But not nearly as terrible as the ending of Handle with Care by Jodi Piccoult (I threw that book across the room and into a wall as I read the last word). I was hooked and couldn't stop myself once I was into it. It was a book club choice and there was more discussion than I remember in 3 years of book club. We were talking over each other and jumping into other conversations. I couldn't even keep up. This story centered around the lives of three sisters who grew up in a castle in England from World War II to the present. They had an eccentric family and extremely odd and famous author father. The mysteries weave through history and the walls of the castle, revealing themselves to the woman chosen to write a piece about the famed play written by the father. It was very good and I would highly recommend it.