Hmmm...who cares about titles

I'm getting a little nervous for Thanksgiving. This is my first year hosting...dun dun dun. There is just so much hype put on the turkey that I can't help but try to cover all my bases to make sure my turkey is good. I spent 30 min massaging salt into the dead bird this morning (to start my brining), every time I open the fridge I give it a positive little pep talk ("You're doing so good in that little brine...keep up the good work")...perhaps I should play it classical music. If it turns out crappy....not my fault. It was just a bad bird. (I'll have to apologize to it for that one tomorrow). I am also really excited for Thanksgiving though. The meal plan looks delicious and yes, I'm shaking it up a bit. No one in attendance is a big fan of pumpkin pie...so I'm cutting it. Also, I've traded apple crisp for apple pie at the majority vote of my guests. Why not eat what we want, right? There were a few other creative directions I wanted to explore but got vetoed...and apparently I'm the only one that loves green bean casserole (that one will never be cut). I'm sure I'll have pictures later of the beautiful event.

I saw Twilight today. I know I may lose friends over this but 1) I'm kind of over the books and 2) I hate ruining my beautiful imagination pictures with what some director feels I should think. So I didn't want to see it. But I did, because I had to...that I knew. There were a few scenes I LOVED and I thought my imagination had underachieved by so much. But there were parts I hated. Cedric Diggory (as he will forever be known to me) grew on me as Edward. Although I got tired of his crazy eyes. I thought Bella was pretty good. The depth wasn't there though and I think someone who hadn't read the books would be lost or at least missing so much. I felt like the director/producers didn't have enough time to make the movie or they just called it good enough because they knew no matter what all the fans would go see it. I say - go see it, but don't expect your life to be changed. Will I see the sequel? I really can't say...but yes. (Office quote again for those of you always confused at my random quotes) - here's the video for enlightenment.



Carson is working on a few new things. His two new words are shoes (sues) and snack (nack with a really really soft k sound at the end). I don't know when kids start to count but it's one of his favorite games right now. He'll line up his toys and say a gibberish sounds as he points to each one. He then celebrates by throwing them all on the ground. Here's a video of him counting and doing a few animal sounds. I only asked him four animals and then I couldn't think of anymore animals. But he's got 7 or 8 now. Kitty is my favorite. You can't quite hear it in the video but he does it all soft, like he's really trying to sound like a cat. Enjoy...

Give me some candy you will

So Halloween was a blast. Carson was Yoda (hence the blog title). Karl saw the costume and really wanted it for Carson. So then I found a Darth Vader candy bucket thingy and a cheap light saber (gotta love Walmart). We added the scarf belt because even after I tacked his sleeves, the holes were too big and he kept taking his arms out.

We planned on taking Carson Trick or Treating, but deep down inside I thought it would be 5 minutes of us chasing him around and stopping him from eating rocks and then we'd give up and go home. AMAZINGLY...it went really well. He was a little nervous about the whole situation at first, but with a lot of coaxing and his older cousin Kenzie to watch, he started to love it. He realized that if he put out his hand they would give him candy. Then he would slowly and carefully put the candy in his bucket. We ended up being out there for an hour! He would do a little happy dance after he got the candy. By the end, his bucket was so heavy that he couldn't carry it anymore. Here is our little Yoda showing off his light saber skills.

And him carrying his little Darth Vader bucket...

Last house - he was pooped and needed a little break. This is in the middle of some one's driveway...

This is the after Halloween candy pic - one Three Musketeers

Here's a video of him demonstrating his new found favorite activity. You can see his smile as he walks away.

Halloween in AZ is definitely different than in Washington. First of all, it's not freezing. I can remember it snowing as we were Trick or Treating. The problem every year was "how do I work a winter coat into my costume?" In AZ...I was sweating...at 7:00 pm (crazy). I can also remember people yelling at you to get off their lawns...no one yells at you to get off their rocks.

I really think Halloween is fun and it always makes me reminisce. My mom would make, or help us make, our costumes every year. There was only one year in my entire childhood where my mom let me "buy" a costume. Some might think this was sad as a kid...but we loved it! Halloween became this creative project. We'd pick what we wanted to be and then brainstorm how to put the parts together. I think my sister Jackie was most creative - for example: one year she was grapes. Purple sweat pants and sweat shirt, then we blew up 50 purple balloons and attached them to her all over. Anyway, we bought Carson's costume this year. I felt like I was cheating. It was pretty hard for me to do. But maybe when he's older and Halloween means a little bit more I'll start the creative Halloween projects.

In regular life - we aren't up to much. We are redecorating our house. We painted all last weekend. We started Sat at 8:30 pm and just kept going thinking we could finish. At 4:30 am we decided to go to bed and finish the next day. Day time is always slower though cause Carson is running around and him plus wet paint doesn't equal a fun time. So we worked here and there during the day and then went strong once he went to bed. At 9 pm Sunday, we had finished! But our house was a disaster. So we saved the clean up for Monday. I finally ordered curtains for our downstairs...yes we've lived here 2 1/2 years and never had curtains. We might be put together soon. I'll post a before and after pic once it's all put together.

We're only mostly dead

Miracle Max gave me a chocolate covered pill...and I'm back and ready to storm the castle. A lot of things have gone down in the last month; I'm not even sure I'll remember everything.

Karl had a birthday...shout hooray! He turned 30! We had entertained the idea of a big party, but he just wanted to relax. So we went out to dinner with his parents and had a little celebration. Here is us at dinner.

So as some of you may have read on Karl's sisters' blogs, their Papa (grandfather) passed away September 11th. Karl, Carson, and I were all able to go over to Charleston, SC for the funeral. It was a really quick trip but we were all so glad we went. The funeral was really nice and it was good to see Nanny (Karl's grandma). She got to see Carson again although he wasn't a tiny baby like last time. This time he and his cousin Kenzie were running all over her house trying to destroy. It was nice to be with Karl's family too. We got to spend one day at the beach and the water was still really warm. Here are a few pics of the kids at the beach. It was low tide so there some little pools and rivers for them to play in. Carson also helped himself to every one's lime-ades. Apparently he thought they were all for him and also very delicious.

I took the 4th and final section of the CPA exam on Monday. I didn't feel as prepared as I did for the other ones, but hopefully I still passed. If not, then I'll still have one more section and I'll have to take it in January or February. I got back my score for the audit section and got a 93!! That's at least exciting. I've also been working for 3 weeks now. Carson seems to have adjusted really well. I've adjusted too. I'll be honest, the first week was EMOTIONAL! I was a crying wreck everyday when I'd get home and would wallow in my guilt every night. I've calmed down about most of my fears though and I really feel like everything is going to be fine.

Carson has learned the meaning of time out. We started them a few weeks ago and they have worked wonders. We only do it for 1 minute, but he knows the words "time out" now. We'll tell him no a few times and then if he keeps doing it I ask if he needs a time out. He usually just freezes the minute we say the word. And then of course there are the times where he completely ignores me and then we have to follow through. But I was amazed at how in 2 or 3 weeks that word had so much meaning to him. His new favorite thing is to do something he knows he's not supposed to do (like hit) and then look at me and say "NO!" really seriously. It's like he's trying to beat me to the punch or something. It's actually pretty funny and it's hard not to laugh. He has yes (ya) and no down. He says them all day long. He may not understand what I'm asking him, but he understands the tone of voice for a question and will reply yes or no just depending on how he is feeling. But if you bring out a fruit snack, he starts saying ya over and over and shaking his head yes as frantically as he can.

Karl's birthday money + trading in our Play Station 2 and Game Cube + 20 games + 6 controllers + probably some other things = A brand new Xbox 360!! Karl is like a little kid at Christmas. I'm happy too because the first game we bought was Guitar Hero. I have to say I'm pretty much an amazing rock star. At 8 pm, the fog machines turn on, I strap on my leather pants (or sweats), pick up my guitar, and transform into the artist that I am. And, in true rock star fashion, I save the dishes or laundry for another day. I might as well live the life style...now that I've found my true calling.

I can't think of anything else cool that has happened so I may supplement this later. Here is a video to say goodbye, or perhaps I should say goodnight.

Lame Post

Okay - So I don't have the time to do this post justice, but I thought I should say something. I've started my new job!! It's definately fun and exciting. What?? Accounting...exciting? Well, I like it and it's excitingly new. It's an adjustment from spending all day with a 1 year old to spending all day with adults. Instead of "Is that a ball?" and "Do you want some cheese?" I get to ask "Where are the K-1's?" and "Can you help me with this Foreign Tax Credit?" Everyone is really nice though and I haven't been eating lunch by myself. I take that as a good sign. Carson seems to be adjusting well too. I miss him way more than he misses me. He's only 1, but I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to move out and start supporting himself...if he could get paid to point and say "whoa."

I'm crazy busy right now though. I work all day, get home an hour later, spend 2 hours playing with Carson (I plan dinner and then Karl is sweet and makes it), Carson goes to bed and I spend 3 hours studying for the next CPA test which is on the 13th. Then I get up at 5:30 and start it all over. I think I'll be a lot more on top of things once this test is out of the way - one more week! I'm actually really needing to study right now but Jessie (sister) reminded me of my lack of recent blogging.

This is all I have time for right now - but I've got a funny video coming and some pics. Look for it sometime after the 13th, once I'm sain again.

Few Updates

So Karl had his surgery on Friday. He woke up really wired and I think it scared the nurse. The adrenaline (or the steriods they gave...I'm not sure what they do) wore off a few hours later and he felt a little more worn out. The doctor said it went well. His cuts are healing up nice. There is a little bruising around most of them but I think they should look good really soon. Karl is just so happy to have some of the real big ones out. They annoyed him all the time.

I got back the results to two of my CPA tests, tax and business concepts. I passed both (96 and 91). YAY!!! Now I still have to hear about the audit section and I'm still studying for the financial section (not yay).

I'm going to be phoneless for 2 more weeks. We can renew our plan in exactly 2 weeks from yesterday and I don't want to pay $100 for a phone when in 2 weeks I can get a more expensive one free. So I know I'm totally lame and every one out there that would call me (not that many people) is annoyed with the inconvenience. I say...blame Carson. Or we could perhaps blame my father for not saying I would lose it more dictatorially (just kidding Dad). So email and I do confiscate Karl's phone on some days when I need to make calls. When we renew our plan we'll probably get a home line too so that should be good.

Small note - to those of you out there with private blogs - I want an invitation. Let me know if you don't have my email. I'm not sure how to get it to you without posting it on here...but we'll figure it out.

The Rest of My Trip

More fun Spokane events:

We meet my dad at his office one day (he got to show Carson off a little bit) and then we all went to Manito Park. We had planned to feed the ducks - as is the tradition - but the parks in Spokane all just posted signs disallowing the feeding of birds. So that idea was out, although we toyed with the idea of Carson building his criminal record. So we looked at the ducks, Carson tried to go swimming, and he also found the only spot of mud in the area. So then we went over to the gardens (another part of the same park). We enjoyed looking at the huge rose gardens while Carson just ran around. It is always a pretty park though and I was glad to go back. Here is a pic of Carson trying to join the ducks and then two to show the pretty rose gardens.

My friend Sarah (pictured at the lake cabin) works at a children's science museum called Mobius. So one afternoon Sarah, Jessie, Carson, and I all went down to the museum. The place was awesome. If only I had been 10 because I would have been in heaven. Carson loved it and just ran around crazy. They had a stage with costumes and instruments, water feature tables where you could direct the current, a little mini city with little child size cars to drive around the streets, and a billion other things that are way too many to list. Sarah helped Carson with the water tables (which were his favorite). There were also really cool bugs there. The stick bugs look so much like sticks it's crazy.

One afternoon we decided to rent a bike trailer for Carson and go out to the Centennial trail for a bike ride. The centennial trail follows the Spokane River and goes all the way to Idaho. I thought Carson would love it...but like so many other things, I thought wrong. He just sat back there crying. So after a while of biking I stopped and took off his helmet (gasp). This seemed to help for a while but then he decided he still hated it and started crying again. So we turned around and biked back to Riverfront Park to go to Pig Out in The Park. (I know a lot of names there).

First, Riverfront Park...it was the site of Expo '74 (and yes...people in Spokane still talk about it). It is really green and pretty, the Spokane River runs right through it, and there are lots of cool things to do there (the giant wagon, the garbage eating goat statue, Imax, ice skating, etc.) All those from Spokane are nodding right now saying "yes, I love that garbage eating goat." It's a statue of a goat and if you put garbage up to its mouth...for example a napkin, it just sucks it right up. Talk about entertaining a kid for hours and the kid is picking up all the garbage with out even realizing it. One of the park's events if called "Pig Out in the Park." They hold it every Labor Day weekend. Tons of food vendors set up stations, there are live musical performers, and then other random vendors (like at a fair). Pic of the huge wagon (which kids climb up into and then slide down the handle. The other pic is the Spokane River with the back of 1/5 of the food vendors. Back to the story -

So we biked to the park and then all got food. It was delicious and I was disappointed I didn't have two stomachs so I could try more options. Especially since they had elephant ears and funnel cakes...how could I choose? Once we all finished we started to bike back to the bike shop to return the trailer. I was hearing this weird grinding sound but decided to ignore it. It didn't go away though so then I finally got off my bike to check it out. Oh...hooray! I had a completely flat back tire. So we all walked our bikes back to the shop. We returned the trailer and fixed the tire. Not that this caused the flat, but the store owner informed me that the bike frame was much to small for my height. I informed him that was because it was my bike from when I turned 12. Somewhere in the ride with Carson crying and my flat, I handed Carson my phone to calm him for a little longer. As I did it my dad said "oh, honey, don't you just think he'll throw it out?" I replied, "nah, it should be fine." Well...now I don't have a phone and I'm pretty sure it's somewhere along the Centennial Trail.

I got to be in Spokane for my dad's birthday and my aunt Jenny's birthday so that was really nice. It was a really nice trip and I was so glad to be there. Thanks again Mom and Dad! Here is just Carson in our backyard. He ate a zucchini straight from the garden (gross). He also loved the swing my dad made.

Real Quick

I'll update about the rest of my Spokane trip soon - but I thought I should post a note in case people are trying to reach me. I lost my phone in Spokane (details to come later). If you read this...now you know. I'll try to get a phone soon but it might not happen for a few weeks. Anyway, email if you need anything. I usually check once or twice a day. Or you can call Karl but I don't really want to post his number on here. Sorry about the inconvenience. Kasey