The Baker's Menagerie: My Head Hurts!

I havent actually bothered to type anything in a while. Its not necessarily laziness on my part, more that I just have so much going on that I would rather take my quiet time to read a book and escape reality for a bit. I am currently reading the Mistborn series. Not exactly something I would read to my kids, but intriguing enough that I am almost to the third in the series. I am also going through serious caffeine withdrawals as I try to wean myself off that crap. I have had so much to keep me going lately and I hate the addiction. I wonder how much longer the headaches can possibly last.

The last couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy for Jared. It seems that whenever he catches up at work he loses network access and spends two or three days staring at a wall or playing Angry Birds on his Xoom. He is also putting together a golf tournament for his battalion this Friday. He is ridiculously excited about playing golf during a work day. I am just glad that he likes playing. He always tends to be in a great mood when he comes home from golf. I wholeheartedly support his obsession as long as he is not gone every weekend. I even pushed him to get these new golf shoes he has been eyeing.

I spent the last weekend helping to host my friends' babyshowers. We had two, one for her friends, and one for his friends. We decided to do it the same day so that we could have both done in one fell swoop. We had an English Tea for the first shower. We served brunch items and fresh tea. I was shocked that one of her friends had never had banana bread before. She liked it enough she took a stack home to her family so they could try it too. The evening shower was more of a bbq party. Jared made a brisket and grilled pineapple, and I made the beans and three different barbecue sauces. I assisted making the other items but Stella was definitely the star of the show. That woman can cook! I was amazed to watch her keep going from sunup until 2 AM. The woman is due on the 29th and she didnt slow down once. I hope I am like her if I get prego again. We were having a blast and so were the kids. Unfortunately our night ended a little early when Maddie decided the strawberries she had eaten didnt want to stay in her tummy.

Kayla is turning into a serious diva. We took the kids to Chik Fil A on their "Free Chicken" day. I printed out a cow costume and once we got to the mall I taped them to the kids and off we went. Kayla looked at me and said, "Mommy, I really hope no one I know sees me looking like this..." seriously, the kid is FOUR. I used to believe that insecurities were learned but I am very careful about what I say in front of her and I dont think those words have ever crossed my lips. Where do they learn this stuff? At the shower-q there were two little boys the same age as her. She managed to get one to ballroom dance with her, and the other ran around the yard playing for an hour while holding her hand the whole time. I am in for trouble.

Madison is quickly gaining a huge vocabulary. She isnt stringing more than two words together yet, but the words she is saying can be two or three syllables. My current favorites are "robot, popcorn, chocat mulk, and bewee button". Her new obsession is putting small items into one container, then taking them out and putting them in another container, then repeating. She loves putting on clothes and dancing in front of Daddy saying "Pretty? Pretty?" Then she preens in front of him after he tells her how adorable she is. Oh dear.

So as a quick recap, over the 4th of July weekend we went to Carlsbad Caverns. The kids hated it, Jared and I thought it was amazing. We had an awesome bbq on the 4th and had our friends the Lewis's over. I filled up a little kiddie pool and put it in the backyard for the girls. They love to play in it and I enjoy getting a little sunshine. Thats pretty much it. Until next time, Stay cool folks.