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Birthday Pics

It was a fun day. My friends at work spoiled me with food -- ALL DAY LONG and then Joe, Ella and I went to Cucina Toscana for an amazing meal and Ella was SO GOOD! It was hilarious at first. We were the first people seated (early reservation on purpose) and people kept asking for a different table as they attempted to seat them next to us......the old Laurie would be offended, but now that I KNOW how my child can behave in a restaurant, I understand! In the end, she was super good and they missed out on the free entertainment, but a group of business men sure had a blast! Ella was having so much fun we ordered dessert. I wouldn't recommend using the salt and pepper shakers from our table, but she was quiet! As we walked out Joe called it the "birthday miracle"!
I have quite the helper when opening gifts!

LOVE the hat!

Miss Ella scored herself some gifts as well!

"Cheers" to a another great year, Mommy!

Pure entertainment! She poured it on her cup and at one point was sneezing from the pepper! We called it good and ordered dessert!

Free from Aveda!

I'm a huge Aveda fan and this deal looks too good to be true, but I printed my coupon today and will find myself in a salon very soon!

Click here and print a coupon! Couldn't eveyone use some smooth hair going into fall and winter dryness?

BONUS: I got an Aveda gift card for my birthday and this will be a lovely addition to my purchase!

Early Birthday Dinner

Dorothy had us over for a special birthday dinner. It was delicious and the best part was the red velvet homemade cake! Would you like to stop by for a piece?
Ella has quite the memory. She insisted on picking tomatoes!

When she hears "birthday", she says "HAT", so we had to have hats!

Oooooohhhh!

YUMMY! Cake!

Grandma has the best toys!

We brought home one very tired little girl! Plans for tomorrow include food, food, and more food! My coworkers have planned on awesome breakfast and lunch and then Joe and Ella are taking me out for dinner!

Date Night Scheduled!

I don't want to lose my great sitters so while I work days I comitted us to date nights so we NEED a sitter!

Friday night --- Wall Street Money Never Sleeps! Joe just found Wall Street on On Demand! We may watch it tonight!

Has anyone seen the new one?

Is it really almost October?

Photo taken today!  I'm fearful we will skip fall...but I'm enjoying the sunshine and fabulous weather.  It's so strange to drive to work in the dark with the heater on and A/C on the way home.

These moments are RARE, but I love them!

New Artwork

I was inspired by a pic on a blog and I knew it was TIME for the stars and stripes to go....but Ella wouldn't have the empty wall.

Thanks to Joe for drawing the trunk and helping!

Great Job Ella!

I'm accepting all ideas for a Winter project....then Spring, etc! Keep your eyes out for projects for me and please send me the link or comment! :-)

It's amazing how proud she is of her "work"!

Thanks for a great visit!

Jeff, Nicole and Lauren are on an RV trip and they made a pit stop at our house. It was eventful! Miss Ella and was pretty stressed about sharing and had some hitting issues. All in all, I think both girls had fun and the parents were the exhausted ones! Finding new activities every few minutes, chasing them up and down the block, wrangling Ella so she would sit and eat, being fearful of more hitting. With time, these girls will be the best of buds! We were sipping drinks and dreaming of the days when they entertain themselves and want nothing to do with us!

Welcome Lauren!

Happy Early Birthday Ella!

Photo taken after Ella was found sitting on all these toys Lauren had touched to declare them HERS!

The night-night game (invented yesterday and played again today)! Watch out for falling blankies, pillows, and babies Lauren!

We learned to play "parade" and I heard it works to get Lauren out of stores, etc. We may play this again!

YEAH! Colorado Beer --- I really miss New Belgium and Odell's! THANKS! What a special treat in time for my birthday!

Monkey Jammies and matching Sesame Street houses for their "guys"!

"My Dad likes the steelers"; "Does your jersey have a sticker on it?"

Run jersey girls, run!

I'm a proud Steelers Fan!

FRIENDS!

PRICELESS! I will frame this one!

Joe is ready to send these pics into the NFL - they were so gentle each taking turns being the leader!

Take some time to stop and smell the flowers!

Sundance --- I'm on the ball this year!

I just registered for the locals only ticket registration for Sundance. I will be in a lottery for a time slot to go to the box office to buy tickets!

I'm excited to see a few movies this year and I'm crossing my fingers for an early time slot!

Anyone want to plan a trip for Sundance? It's Jan 20-30th, 2011.

Tonight is the night!

I'm not sure what to expect after the crazy shooter finale!  I may have to watch when I get home tonight after work!

Fall is in the air...

The Pumpkin Latte -- that's when fall happens for me! Today my alarm clock (aka Ella) went off way too early. It was a gloomy, rainy day. About 3:00 I knew exactly what I needed! Fortunately I had a Starbucks gift card and it's a quick walk to the hospital next to us and now --- fall has begun!

This is our car song!

Mostly because it's on the radio ALL THE TIME, but we love it and we sing, dance and do hand motions! Ella loves it!

For you Mom --- only about 5 years late

I heard this song the other day and it is SO TRUE! Thanks Mom for everything and I really think I found a "good one" in Joe and I know you still worry, but you don't have to so much!

I choose my battles

This morning Ella opened her drawer and reached abover her head and found one sock. I put on the pair of socks I found and her shoes. She took them all off. She asked for my help to put on the sock she found. I went to find a match --- no luck! I tried to convince her to wear the socks and shoes I had picked out. NOPE, she went looking for another sock (again over her head) and found a baggie with 2 pairs of tights. I again tried to convince her to wear socks. Nope, she had to wear tights. BUT, not just one pair of tights, 2 pairs of tights.

We went to the babysitter with cream tights over white tights and I was embarassed to tell her the story!

You win some, you lose some and SHE is the one in 2 pairs of tights when it will hit almost 90 degrees this afternoon!

It's so funny to see a girl in 2 pairs of tights walk around the house with a lacrosse stick, but that's our girl!

The Triple Vaccine!

I'm annoyed by the marketing of the flu shot this year! The seasonal flu vaccine is usually a triple shot. The CDC tracks the virus which is always evolving and usually chooses 3 of the most likely strains to circulate in the US for the vaccine.

This year the seasonal shot does contain H1N1 so only one vaccine is needed instead of the 2 shots everyone needed last year! You needed 2 shots last year because the novel H1N1 appeared late and it was too late to add it to the seasonal shot, so they made an additional shot.

Please get your flu shot, but don't buy into the "triple shot" marketing! You can go anywhere to get your shot and you will be protected as best as possible --- it's all the same!

For more info visit the CDC!

To answer Robyn's question (copied from CDC website):
†Children aged 6 months--8 years who did not receive at least 1 dose of an influenza A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccine, who have never received a seasonal influenza vaccine before, or who were vaccinated for the first time with the seasonal 2009--10 seasonal vaccine but who received only 1 dose should receive 2 doses of the 2010--11 influenza vaccine formula, spaced 4 or more weeks apart.

YES, it's possible kids under 9 years may need 2 shots of this years vaccine if they did not get 2 shots of the H1N1 vaccine last year or it's their first year for vaccination.

Mission Accomplished!

I bought the Miracle Salsa Base Mix at the Farmer's Market in addition to a container of my favorite tomatillo avocado salsa.

We ventured to the Mexican Market yesterday and I bought all these ingredients for less than $4 and that included an extra avocado and lime. Can you believe I bought over a pound of tomatillos for 33 cents!

I gave Joe a blind taste test and he chose my SALSA! Yeah! I'm very pleased with it and I will be venturing out and making more of my own salsa. It just tastes better and it's pretty good for you too!

I think I'll try more of the recipes on the "miracle base mix" jar!