I've been married to this guy for 11 YEARS!!!

The 10 year anniversary is supposed to be the big one, right? Our ten year anniversary didn't really work out that way because 1) We had just moved 2) I had the stomach flu, and 3) Curtis was in Torrence, CA at the PORTIFINO for work, and because of 1, 2, and 3, I spent our anniversary sick, in a strange place called New Jersey. In Curtis' defense, he had recently started his job and needed to be in California at these meetings, and he PROBABLY asked me and I PROBABLY said that it was ok ( I can't remember the conversation, can't even blame it on being pregnant!)

This year we wanted to do something really fun and memorable, but a different memorable than moving or having a baby, or eating raw chicken from Carl's Jr. (That was #5 and there's a story there as well). So we went to Wicked on Broadway and had dinner at a really nice Brazilian Chuhasca (? Help me out honey). We had a fabulous night, Curtis got to practice his Portuguese, and eat lots of meat, and I got to listen to him practice his Portuguese, and eat lots of meat. I love the pan de caju (?) cheese bread, and we had coconut flan which was soo yummy. Wicked was fantastic, I had only heard one of the songs before, but I really liked the music. The set and costumes were so detailed, and the Wicked Witches were great characters, funny and believable, and spoiler alert, the Wicked Witch turns out to be a animal rights activist, not an evil witch!
But even if we had another year of raw chicken or driving across the country, or being pregnant (oh wait, that's REAL) I am still the luckiest girl in the world to have Curtis in my life. He is the best husband a girl could ask for, in so many ways. He is strong and funny and supportive, and works so hard for our family. He loves our kids and wrestles and plays and teaches them important things. I love him soo much!
Happy Anniversary Love!

August 20, 1997

August 20, 2008

Wicked, before the show

Wicked set

Quotes from Jonah

Whispered into mom's ear:

"I will protect you."

"How are you doing?"

Kisses mom on the arm 4 times.

AND he promised to sleep through the night tonight!!

Again your ear can hear, my dear!

We are a family with some big ole' ears. I'm pretty sure it's from my side of the gene pool, which is actually one of the not-so-bad traits that the Tanners pass down, others being nearsightedness to the point of being legally blind, and also being completely unobservant of certain things and not caring at all and also writing run-on sentences and not caring at all. Well Ethan has been especially blessed with the big ears and along with that he has HUGE ear canals and today I had the privelege of being able to retrieve some items from said canals that DON'T BELONG THERE. And it isn't the first time! And I have to say that it is extremely satisfying in a disgusting way to pull a huge chunk of something out of an ear. Sorry if that grosses anybody out, but you know exactly what I mean, I KNOW you do!

This lovely piece of wax was the first prize, and then after a few more draws, out came this piece of FOAM!!! EWWW... Ethan with a surprised look on his face: "Everything is alot more loud now!!"



November 2006...
Sitting at dinner one night, I look over and I can see something in Eth's ear. So I said something like 'Ethan has perfectly round balls of wax in his ear.' So Curtis took a look, and attempted whatever you can attempt at the table to get the balls out, didn't work. Then Ethan pointed to the fake flowers on the table, and said 'maybe THAT's what's in my ear.' Curtis and I looked at the flowers, then gave each other the look, and whisked Ethan upstairs to do mini surgery with some instruments leftover from dental hygiene school. We got most of the balls out, but there were one or two that were pretty deep and even with all my experience and modern equipment, we didn't want to risk it. So Curtis had the great idea of flushing them out with water from the faucet, which actually got all but one, and I pulled that one out a few months later after it rode the 'ear wack' (Ethan's term) out further. It was crazy how those little balls were exactly the same color as ear wax! And yes Ethan admitted to putting them in there!

The many faces of Eli

Eli's funniness lies in his laugh and his mannerisms which include using the word 'even' alot. "Even I want some ice cream. Even candy, even marshmallows." He has a sweet tooth like his mom which I learned from my neighbor today means he (or I) could have a greater tendency to alcoholism, given the chance (which Eli and I haven't done).

Sideways smile

Nice uvula

"ARGH"

genuine fake smile

This guy loves the arts

Talented at falling asleep in random places and sweating

LaClaire's in the Big Apple

Pictures of our family trip to NYC:

Coney Island

NY aquarium

Toys R Us at Times Square has a ferris wheel, and this life size t-rex


Battery Park (if you stare and cross your eyes you can see the Statue of Liberty in the background)


Lion King - it was great, even though we got in trouble for taking pictures in the theatre.

JO-JEE's 3!!!

Baby Jo, Jo-jo, Mr. eye patch, Captain, midgee, whatever you call him, our baby is officially 3!! We ended up celebrating his birthday on Sunday because we were in New York City on Friday, his actual birthday. Jonah has a thing for telescopes lately, he rolls every single sheet of paper his little hands touch into a tube, and it becomes his pirate telescope for the day. So his favorite gift was a pirate telescope that I found on amazon. Jo also wanted a Sonic the hedgehog cake, which ended up looking like a giant smurf, but we had fun decorating it.






Curtis finally took down the crib this weekend, so Jo is sleeping in a toddler bed WITHOUT his gukkies. Just need to get this kid potty trained and we'll be good to go... :) Jonah has such a sweet personality he LOVES to play pretend, his most common phrase is "Come on pwincess, let's sneak." Or when he's not so happy: "That's it. I I I'm not youw pwincess anymowe!" (A little pronoun confusion now and then). Happy Birthday Jonah!

Am I missing something?

I haven't been online for a few days, so imagine my surprise today when my pregnancy coutdown clock said that I only had 3 days until the baby is due! I kept staring at it, like, is it really NOT TRUE? Because I feel like this kid could pop out any second. And I don't know if the stretch marks above my belly button can stretch out any more! It's a little freaky. I have an appt. with the Dr. on Wednesday and if my due date gets moved up a month I'll probably not post it because I'll be in the hospital having a baby!

Six kids under 6 at the Museum of Natural History

We met up with the Busby's on Saturday at the 'Night at the Museum' museum in NYC. They were in NYC this summer for an internship and we were so happy to finally see them! We were in the same ward in Glendale, and since we moved they have tripled their kid digits. It was fun to see their new guys, Luke and Daren and see Kayla all grown up! Met up with a couple of uptight museum employees, and ate lunch at Central Park. Thanks for the fun day guys!

Fishin' with DAD

Written by Curtis...

Last weekend Ethan, Eli and I took our third fishing trip of the summer. I came home from work early on Friday and we went over to Lake Lenape (about 7 miles from our house). Armed with 4 fishing poles (learned from Grumpy to always bring an extra rod), tackle box, and 3 dozen worms, we showed up to do battle with any .5 lb sunny willing to take us on from our post at the end of the public access dock. That is exactly how our afternoon proceeded as well. This was a monumental trip as Ethan demonstrated his proficiency in baiting his own hooks. Eli was on and off on his focus on fishing and spent much of his time playing in the water...I had to make a rule that he not go in deeper than his shorts...

For the first hour or so, we caught palm size sunny after sunny....and then we saw it...a large bass striking out at our sunnies from under the dock. Of course it drew my interest and I swapped out my skinny worm for a couple of sure-fire lures (have caught many fish on previously). I spent a few minutes trying to draw the bass out from under the dock, but he wasn't interested in my fancy hook devise. So I returned to the palm size sunfish. After a few more catches we saw him again, a pretty good size small mouth coming after our little sunfish.

Well, I didn't think much of it, but then a few casts later, I was reeling in a small sunfish and that bass came out one more time, this time his strike was spot on and he grabbed the sunny I was brining in. My line went tight and my rod bent in half as that bass tried to escape...the deed was done. He was now hooked on my line and I wasn't about to let him get away. I fought him for a minute or two and then landed him on the dock. Ethan and Eli were ecstatic.

Mom and Jonah were on their way to see us so they were able to take these pictures. We had a great time. Only one issue....Ethan wanted to take it home and eat it; Eli wanted to let it go. Eli ended up leaving with Mom and Jojo and Ethan and I brought the fish home, filleted it, and cooked it up for dinner.

The Times of Ethan

Ethan has made numerous letters for his friends from school this summer. This was one that I didn't let him take to his friend Dominick because I wanted it for myself!
The original is folded like a book, so the first page is the front and back 'pages' of the book. I think this is a microcosm of what goes on in Ethan's mind on an average day! Such a six-year old boy!! (Fortunately the rubber snake around his neck is no more. It lost it's head due to whipping so many people.)


Front:Ethan getting on his school bus with Mom, Eli, and Jonah (notice the corresponding sizes) in the background. "From Ethan to Dom"
Picture of Ethan and Dom, and Autobots.

Mom and Dad at the temple, with BUGS and a worm (he told me what they were, and one of them is a giant tick, this was during a stage where he couldn't get enough info about ticks)
And then Ethan and Dad. Dad gets a whole page???
.

Hill Cumorah Pageant and Niagara Falls

Ethan and Eli, with Sam and MORONI!!

It was really amazing how many people were up on the stage.

Above 'Horse Shoe Falls' at Niagara

American Falls from the 'Maid of the Mist.' We all got wet but it was so cool to feel the power of all that water coming down.