You be the Judge:

Quick Question:

Yes, there's a story behind this, but I don't feel it appropriate to broadcast it over cyberspace.

Just curious...

Think back to the grade school worksheets you did; do these 2 pictures belong together?

A simple yes or no response will be sufficient.

Thank You.

Have You Ever...

Loved something so much you just want to snuggle it all day? That's how I feel about my loveable little pinky. We had lots of fun at the park today!

The Fruit Flies Must DIE!

We LOVE local California produce...but we seem to have encountered a problem.

Let's start with the picture of the gar-gan-tu-an zucchini.

So I got these nuclear-infused squash from my friend's garden. Literally, they were so heavy I could hardly hold all 3 at the same time.

I thought to myself, "Self, the only thing to do with these mondo-zucchs is to make some tasty bread." I made about 3 trillion loaves of bread and only made a tiny dent in one of the zucchinis. Now to the peaches. I had 2 Trader Joe's bags filled with fresh peaches I'd picked for jam. They were so delicious! Continue on the pic of the apricots.

We love apricots! Fortunately for us, we have many friends with apricot trees, so we've lucked out and had bags and bags full of these precious little morsels in our house over the past month. Next stop, the lovely strawberries.

This has been the most productive year for our little strawberry crop. They've been super dee-lish and fun to watch grow.

Now to the picture of the magnified fruit fly. These nasty little creatures are invading my kitchen!

Seriously, it's not like there's 3 or 4 flying around my kitchen. There are colonies! They love the corners of my windows. Baby fruit flies, adult fruit flies, mating fruit flies, dead fruit flies...THEY'RE ALL EVERYWHERE! So how are we combatting this problem? Well I've been Lysol-wiping the life out of these little guys, but they come back. I've sprayed Raid on these little babies, but they've come back. We got out the trusty KIRBY (for further Kirby info check out July 15th's post), but they kEeP cOmInG bAcK. I even sprayed some more toxic-may-as-well-inhale-carbon monoxide-Raid on the outside of my windows today in hopes I'd never see these pests again...but guess what? THEY'RE BACK!

If you're having this problem, this is what wikipedia told me to do:

-put some balsamic vinegar in a bowl

-cover with plastic wrap

-poke the wrap with a few fork holes (this should allow the buggies to get in but not out)

I'm going to try this little science experiment tonight and I'll report in a few days.

If you have any other suggestions...PLEASE HELP!!! We are in desperate need over here!

FAB FINDS OF THE WEEK!

HURRY!!! Drop everything that is possibly of any importance this very minute and run to your local Baby Gap!!! Well, maybe don't be quite as dramatic as I am, but if you're near Baby Gap in the next day or two, it's worth taking a glance at their pj section. Every year around this time they put many styles of their usual $22 jammers on clearance for just a few bucks! 1 of these pairs of jams was $3.97 and the other 2 pairs were $4.99 each. They're cute, comfy and quite durable. HELLO...what are you still doing reading this??? Get going!

She's a BRAIN-IAC, BRAIN-IAC on the floor.

Tearing up the book shelf...

and reading all the books

is almost as much fun as...

fighting over who gets the calculator!

"My calculator!"

I guess if my child is going to make messes and get into playdate fights, then books, flashcards, and the enviable calculator are good enough excuses.

We love swimming!

Avy found some grody goggles on the side of the pool. I don't know what was more nasty...her eating the mystery goggles, or her giving an unknown fellow-swimmer girl a wet slobbery kiss on the lips.

We had a FUN day of swimming with Avy's good buddy!

Kirby Crew, this one's for you.

When the Kirby team comes a knockin' on your door during the most possible stressful part of your day...let them in. Don't deny them the opportunity to clean your house. Why you may ask, well let me give you a couple good reasons.

1-I sat on my couch for nearly 3 hours while my house was cleaned...for free...by someone other than myself

2-Oh it's very entertaining to listen to the sales pitch and watch them work their magic

You may be thinking, "Still not worth it. I'd rather vacuum my own carpet than have to listen to a sales pitch."

You may want to re-think your opinion. This is how our afternoon went yesterday:

"Can we clean your carpet for free?"

"We don't have all day to listen and we won't buy what you're pedaling."

"No prob. Just let us clean your carpet."

"Fine. Enter."

"Let's start with this spot on your floor."

"WOW! That looks fantastic! Can you clean all these spots?"

"Sure."

"WOW! That looks fantastic! Can you dust with it too?"

"Yes Mam."

"WOW! The tv looks fantastic."

"The bookshelf looks fantastic! The tv armoire looks fantastic! The pictures look fantastic! The drapes look fantastic! The windowsills look great. The track from the sliding glass door is sparkling! What? It works in the kitchen too?"

"Sure does."

"Holy Moly! All that came from under and behind my fridge? Wow, this even degreased all this junk from my stove? My floor looks as good as new now!"

"And it works on window screens too."

"Let's go try! Wowsers, you're right, Kirby Man! My screens look incredible!"

"It also does wonders on mattresses. You know that dust mites grow and die in your mattress, right?"

"Let's take a look. Whoo-hoo! My mattress looks brand new! Thanks for ridding us of all our dust mites. Can you do the pillow top mattress too? Looks wonderful! How about the mattress in the back room? Fantastic! Another brand new looking mattress!"

"Now let's get to that floor in the front room. Let's start by vacuuming it. Now I'll shampoo and clean it for you."

"THANKS! Our house looks amazzzzzing! We really appreciate it!"

So let's recap...Tyler & I hung out and entertained the dudes for a couple hours, fixed up a nice little glass of ice-water, and in return we got some serious spring/summer cleaning...for free.

Now you tell me...was it worth it? HECK YES!

I'm sure the burning question now in your mind is of course..."DID YOU BUY IT???"

Of course not. We already own a Kirby :)

(which by the way was purchased on craigslist for 1/4 the price the salesman ask)

As they say in "The Office"...You do the math.

Concert Craze...Which Would You Choose?

American Idol

vs

New Kids on the Block

So I told my friend, who shall remain nameless, that I went to the American Idol concert last week (which by the way was way fabulous) and she laughed...out loud...really loud at me! Can you believe that??? She said she couldn't believe they even went on tour! Wow, the nerve of you, Ms. Jacobs. Oops, just gave it away. Anyway, she is counting down the days till NKOTB come to San Jose to perform. So I seem to believe that more people would pay to see dReAmBoAt Archuletta than washed up greasers. Am I right???

Go David!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IFaDD7ZvLQ

OR...

If NKOTB are your style, you may enjoy this:

http://www.nme.com/video/id/oqWgSKgIDR4/search/nkotb

Love the overalls, boys! Who knew there were even video cameras back then???

Fun with Friends...and Dad!

One of the greatest things about living here would have to be our fabulous friends! Tyler & Avy & I are so super blessed to have such fun and entertaining friends. This past weekend Tyler & Avy let me go party. I went up to San Fran for an overnighter with some girlfriends & had a barrel of fun.

Highlights from SF:
-Eating a deeelish dinner and tasty dessert...and some of Heather's dessert...and then some of Kaari's dessert
-Making fondue in the hotel room and scarfing that down (yes, after 3 previous desserts)
-Staying up way, way, way past my bedtime
-Being so sleep deprived the next day that my tact-filter was gone and I told my friend's husband that the shirt he was wearing was the absolute ugliest shirt I'd ever seen...sorry Jamie. Really, the tie-dye is rockin :)

Tyler and Avy had a fab time at home. They went to Avy's friend's Birthday Party and Avy got to eat all sorts of real people food. Dad said she loved it and kept hanging her tongue out of her mouth after every bite to ask for more :) Then they had a slumber party in the back yard in the tent. When I came home the next morning, she went straight for Dad. Clearly they had a great weekend together.

Yummy!

I definitely don't have the talent of keeping a clean child while feeding. As the pictures prove, she obviously likes to be very involved.

Goodbye Galbraiths

We had a lil' party for our dear friends Steve & Melissa who are moving to Sacramento. You will definitely be receiving invites to come back for periodic Office parties and the annual Valentine's Day shin-dig. Melissa, I'll miss sharing sweet junk food treats with you! So sad to see you both go! Good luck guys!

Even Baby Cooper is so sad to see the Galbraiths leave (what a cutie!).

4th of July...Good Times.

The day started with Ty & Avy building the base for the game cornhole.

Ok. I promise to not always write novels on my posts, but I have to explain why I LOVE the 4th of July...I haven't always.

So growing up, the 4th of July was always my worst nightmare. Why, you may ask? In jr. high & high school , for cheerleading we had to march in the Idaho Falls parade. This entailed several grueling hours of 6am practices all summer, being ready to go by 5am on parade day, marching in the blistering, sweltering heat in polyester for what seemed like tens of thousands of miles, and no matter how much sunscreen I slathered on this hot white bod I would always end up scorched. Then the greatest ending to the day was the Bird family trekking up to I.F. again to watch the fireworks. Although the population of I.F. isn't extremely large, it seemed as if somehow the inhabitants of I.F. quadrupled on Independance Day. So we ran into massive crowds and traffic. Getting a family of 8 home around 11pm amidst what seems like millions of cars all heading for the same direction is the icing on the cake for a perfect day of celebration. Ah...at least I have some good memories from it.


However, my eyes have been opened & my thoughts have changed about this awesome day. Now that I don't have to rush anywhere, don't have to wake up at 5am, and don't have to march to the ends of the earth in polyester...what a grand day! Wow, we are so blessed to live in America! I loved celebrating the 4th with my Tyler and Avy and our friends this year. After Tyler & Avy's woodworking project, we went to a BBQ then to the beautiful foreworks.
Good Times!

Testing, Testing...1.2.3.

Ok. I thought I'd give this blogging world a try, so here it goes. Oh yes, uh-huh, so far this is fabulous fun. Kidding, I really will give it an honest try. As for the blog title, well my lil sis Whitney thinks it's lame, but I've decided this simple word needs to be my theme. Enjoy!