Elmo - who knew?

For Blazer's 1st birthday, my sister's mother-in-law gave him a DVD titled, "The best of Elmo: 2."  Sesame Street just doesn't make it on the T.V. for us on a regular basis.  This DVD was Blazer's first Elmo experience.

The first time we put the DVD in, Blazer was mildly interested.  The DVD is a collection of musical snippets in Elmo's wonderful world of counting and life lessons.  Colorful, cute, but still not a cartoon, which Blazer is use to watching. 

Today, Blazer was A-W-F-U-L.  He would mope about the house, yelling and screaming.  (Sarah, if you are reading this, I don't think a raptor has anything on my son.  You know what I mean.)  He just wouldn't stop.  NOTHING was helping.  Long nap, NO.  Cup of Fruit2O, NO.  Food, NO.    O.M.G. kid! 

After dinner Aaron just decided to put in a movie and see if Blazer would calm down.  He chose the Elmo movie.  I gave Blazer some milk and sat him in his chair with his blanket.  The movie started and Aaron decided to do his homework while I browsed recipes for the holidays.  Minutes go by and not one word from Blazer.  There wasn't even a sound of him rustling around.  Aaron thought he fell asleep so he went to check. 

Blazer was completely engaged with Elmo - eyes glued to him! 

Here is Exhibit A:

Thank you, Elmo.  You made our night so much easier!

Happy Tuesday!

September: The big ONE

Onto September... 

This was a tough month for many reasons.  In usual list style, here you go:

1) I started teaching again - two subjects I have never done before. 
2) We decided Aaron is going back to school and enrolled him into Tillamook Bay Community College.
3) FAFSA took too long and we had to come up with the money for the first tuition deposit.  Can you say, "Broke, much?"
4) Blazer turned 1, which turned out to be a stressful yet extremely enjoyable day.
5) Had to get the babysitter the new schedule which I screwed up on and then had to fix...TWICE.
6) Aaron and I had our first dentist appointments in YEARS.  "Hello, Root Canal."

Things that were awesome about September:

1) Aaron went back to school!
2) Blazer is walking!
3) Blazer turned ONE and can say, "Da-da.  Nigh, Nigh.  Wow."   Yes, that's three words.  :)
4) 1st Birthday for Blazer was a success!  (Do you see a pattern of repetition here?  It's because, when things are tough, it doesn't always mean they are bad.) 
5) Aaron and I had our 4th Anniversary and are growing in love and appreciation for one another.  Yes, you can go puke now.


Ah, lists.  So easy, yet concise.  :)

Some remembrance...

 Very inexpensive birthday in the park. 

 Cousin Tyson...who will be 2 in December!

 Not one of my best baking accomplishments, but still efficient.

 Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

 Mommy and Blazer

 Dig in.

Being 1 means a haircut is coming soon...

September, "That'll do.  That'll do."

August Rush

Good movie...but really our August was one big RUSH.

We finally got to spend some time in our new house for a week.  Family and friends came over for the Tillamook County Fair, which is the best fair is the state of Oregon (seriously).  They decided to camp at Barview State Park by Garibaldi, which is RIGHT on the beach.  We had a blast with them here and even had some awesome family photos taken by a talented up and coming photographer, Amanda Vinson.  Aaron and I were also proud to show off our new house and decorations, which were a huge hit. 

Some remembrance...

 Me, Amanda Vinson, and my sister, Amanda Conklin

 Chris McKenzie, Aaron, Shane Conklin, and Luke Vinson

 Me, my AWESOME mother, and my sis.

After the fair, friends, and family came and went, we were off again.  This time, we decided to go to Hermiston, Oregon, where Aaron's sister and her family lives.  There, we spent a week of good, hot weather, awesome new friends, great eats, and tons of laughs! 

Some remembrance...

 Blazer in Hermiston at this beautiful place called, "Warehouse Beach."

 Blazer sporting his new baby speedo.  Yes, he can definitely pull it off.

August was the month of the "Green Security Bottle" which is why you didn't see him often without it.

Our family arrived back in Tillamook with a week to spare before I started work again.  We unpacked and organized everything.  One of the other highlights of our return was.... (Drum roll...)  We finally filed bankruptcy.  

August, thank you for being so good to us.  It was a great way to end the summer.

AUGUST NOTES:   Blazer started to drink regular whole milk.  Yes!  No. More. Formula.  He tolerates whole milk now and....HE CAN EAT OATMEAL...not that he wants to.  Possibly the biggest Blazer Note of August:  He started to try and walk, unsuccessfully I might add, but the desire was there.  11 months old!

The rest of July

MOVING - Yes, again...

Side note:  We have moved 4 times in the last 5 years.

After camping for the 4th, Aaron and I had to move into the home that we had found in June (yes I forgot to mention we went house hunting in June).  Bad things about the current home we were living in:
1) It was too small.
2) It was 30 minutes one way to work.
3) The natural lighting in that house sucked.
4) $900 a month was high for the space we got.
5) The house was more built for vacation, not LIVING in for extended periods.

We went house hunting for a total of 3 days.  We looked at two homes in town. Number 1 was an old farm house with a buhzillion bedrooms and 1.75 bathrooms.  The rent was reasonable but it came with a $200/month gas heating bill.  Um, not really what we were looking for.  Number 2 was an old home as well that had been stripped down and completely remodeled.  It had 2.75 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus it was 500 square feet larger than the home in Rockaway we were living in.  It was beautiful!  The asking price for rent was reasonable but the asking for down and deposit was way too high.  We ended up paying the same for rent as our current house without having to pay a deposit. 

We had a 1 week opportunity to move in July because we had so many other obligations in Bend.  Blazer stayed with my mom and we spent 4 exhausting days moving all of the stuff from one home to the other while also cleaning and landscaping the house we moved out of.  We are completely done with moving for at least another 2 years...oh dear God I hope so at least.

The awesome thing about moving was all the space we were able to get in the new home.  We even splurged and got all new decor.  We've been living in the new house in town since August 1st now.  It's so nice to drive 2 minutes to the grocery store instead of 25 minutes.  Blazer also has a bad-ass room with plenty of space to spread out the contents of his overstuffed toy box.  I'll show pics of the new place in another post.

For the rest of July, I spent most of my days in a coffee shop with my best friend, Talena Baker.  We got to spend a TON of time with family too.  I love Central Oregon for summer...it just feels right to be there when most days are clear skies, sunny, and 85-95 degrees with hardly any humidity.


JULY NOTES:    Blazer started crawling like a speed racer in addition to perfecting the bear crawl.  My kid is a monster!  Oh yeah...body builder in the making.

June and some of July 2011 - Here we go...

June...

Well, what a grand month that was...NOT

We went to our lawyer with my awesome end-of-the-school-year check, completely excited (though ironically) to file for our bankruptcy.  Is that still a social taboo?  Even more ironical (yes I just said that) is coming to the realization that we had too much money in our bank account to file bankruptcy without them taking it all.  Even the whole, "But this is what we have to live off of all summer..." shpeal didn't cut it.  Advice from the awesome lawyer..."Go spend it."  Riight...

After leaving the lawyer less than satisfied and with a pocket full of "already spoken for" money, we decided to go visit my parents and other family in Bend, Oregon.

That is where we spent June.  Exciting?  Sure..

JUNE SIDE NOTES:
    Blazer started crawling and (YIKES) I have zero photos of it.  Another milestone uncovered.  Awesome mom of the year award...right here.

July...

Oh July, how I look back on thee and realize you went by way too fast.  July is my birth month, which gets less and less exciting the older I get.  What is exciting, however, is that every year we get to go camping with a wonderful group of people at a wonderful and FREE campsite we stumbled on years ago.  This year, we decided to go for 5 days.  Without showers.  Without toilets or running water.  Without a crib.

Verdict?  AWESOMENESS...well except for how we smelt and felt at the end of the 5 days.   Blazer was a champ and slept every night, all through the night, except one.  The invention of Pack N Plays made that trip possible.  Thank you, Graco.  I'd also like to thank Coleman, who makes unbelievable durable air beds.  RVs, eat your heart out.

Some remembrance...

 Kelty, you rock!

 Walkers while camping when your son can't walk?  Uh-MAZE-ing.

 Giggles with dad while sitting around the fire = priceless bonding.

 A place to call "home" while in the outdoors!

 Playing "Pass the Baby"

"Mom, camping is incredible."

More of July to come...

Catching up...AGAIN

Wow, I sure do have a way of forgetting things, not finishing things, and...(insert another excuse here).

So I neglected this unfortunate blog for quite some time.  As life has it, we have experienced way too much in the last however-many-months since I blogged to post it all in one shot.  I think a series of "What happened when" is in order. 

Stay tuned...