:: the BoydBunch ::

Chewy

2009-07-04T12:22:00.001-05:00

Annabelle is chewing gum -- first time. I tried to slip Andy a piece and she saw it and demanded a piece. Eclipse Winterfrost is the brand. I can't say she loved it. A bit of a chew then gave it back to us to throw away. But another step into big-girl-dom!
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Absolutely Flawless!

2009-07-03T21:36:00.004-05:00

I am going to tell you something exciting then show you something exciting. I am trying to think of a delicate way to put this. Annabelle used the ladies room like big girl today. *cheers and applause for her* We were very excited. Now I know she's just a step away from cars and boys.

And, I give you, Annabelle's favorite music video.

2009-06-30T21:29:00.001-05:00

"I have a house where the ponies live."
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Wow!

2009-06-16T18:46:00.000-05:00

Annabelle, June 14, 2007

Annabelle, June 11, 2008

Annabelle, June 10, 2009

*

In other news, Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away" has always been one of my favorite songs. Now, Annabelle loves it too.

You Don't Say?

2009-06-15T02:39:00.001-05:00

"Flu risk 'still low' after death" ...

Thank you BBC.com for that helpful headline! One more thing I can cross off my list of post-death worries!
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Otras Cosas

2009-06-14T20:34:00.004-05:00

I have a humorous story to share. It involves our precious, amazing Annabelle, of course. Last Thursday after we our workout at the gym, we stopped by Subway to get dinner. Geneen and Annabelle stayed in the car, while I went inside. I ordered Geneen's usual -- turkey on white, which includes a bag of Cheetos. On our way back to the house, Geneen opened the bag of Cheetos and gave some to Annabelle, who seemed to enjoy them.

The next night I took Annabelle with me to pick up dinner, again from Subway. We went inside to stand in line and were waiting by the chip rack. On the top row were the Cheetos. Annabelle saw this, pointed at the Cheetos and said, "mommy likes them!" It was priceless!

She did it again today when we were at Target. We were proceeding to the toy section and passed by cosmetics when Annabelle saw a large display of lip glosses. She again pointed and said, "mommy likes them." This time she followed it with "Annabelle likes them too!"

I know I am biased, but our little Anna is as sharp as a tack. We love our little girl so much!

2009-06-13T02:00:00.004-05:00

It's a great story and it ends with, "Mommy likes them!"

Andy will have to write about it tomorrow.

*

We went to the gym Thursday -- all three of us. Annabelle stayed for 30 minutes in the kids club while we worked out. Huge step for us. Annabelle has never, ever stayed with anyone not blood related to her. She really didn't even know we were gone I don't think. She seemed to enjoy being with the other kids.

*

On another note, it was really hard watching Marian Hossa lose the Stanley Cup for a second time in a row -- and after he chose to go to the other team and ended up losing to the one he'd just left. Ouch.

But in happier news, the last game of the Stanley Cup Final means we are *this much* closer to seeing the Thrashers again. Yay!

2009-06-11T12:09:00.001-05:00

I just asked Annabelle, "what is your name?"

She said, "Anna [her last name]." It was so very cute.

Yesterday she saw a jackrabbit in the backyard and kept saying," jackrabbbit mommy! Jackrabbit mommy!"

I asked her what he looked like and she said, "brown! Ears! Tail."

Awwww...
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2009-05-18T11:11:00.001-05:00

Enrique Iglesias love lives!
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Creme de la Creme a la Edgar

2009-05-15T11:14:00.002-05:00

On Fridays Annabelle and I have kind of a free day. No set plans or activities. Today she's watching a little bit of "The Aristocrats." When Edgar was chasing Thomas O'Malley, Annabelle yelled out, "uh oh!" It was really funny and cute and all those thing she is.
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Vamos a Bailar!

2009-05-14T13:47:00.002-05:00

Annabelle loves Enrique Iglesis! She just made me listen to "Bailamos" a ridiculous number of times!
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Learning to be polite

2009-05-06T21:51:00.002-05:00

Annabelle was in top form tonight. We were going through our ritual playing on mommy and daddy's bed before going to bed and Annabelle was thrashing about, one second on the bed, the next on the floor. As she was moving around she was passing gas! Geneen reminded her to say "excuse me". Annabelle, who was playing with the cat at the time, proceeded to say, "excuse me Sarah, excuse me Sarah!" It was very cute and funny.

I'm Feeling Giddy!

2009-05-06T19:37:00.008-05:00

I have a lot to write about, but here's one to start off...

It's so awesome when you get to spend time with a friend just talking and laughing and knowing that person likes you anyway. I say some of the dumbest things EVER, but your real friends don't care. Friends like that are pretty rare.

Two humorous stories.

First, I've been listening to Russian CDs and tapes in my car on the way to class every week. Annabelle is in the car with me for an hour -- there and back. She's usually back there reading a book or looking out the window or playing with her lizards (you get the picture). Every once in a while she busts out a Russian word that I know I know I should know, but I don't! She just yells out "KNIGA!" (book) or "MOLODETS!" (well done!). It's hilarious. But it's even more hilarious when there are witnesses. For example, today Gigi and Gavin were visiting and Gavin had picked up Annabelle's piggy bank.

Gigi said, "Annabelle can Gavin play with your piggy bank?"

Annabelle -- with great enthusiasm -- yelled, "NYET!!!" It was so hilarious.

I am a huge REM listener. I think they're one of the greatest bands of all time. But anyway ... Andy and I had an REM CD in the car and we were listening to it on the way home from dinner with Gigi, Carlo and Gavin last week. The song "Imitation of Life" was on and Andy and I were singing and being silly and, suddenly, from the backseat, we hear this little voice doing the "come on! Come on!" chorus and the up and down vocal sliding of the word "cry" that the song has throughout. It was amazing and beautiful and awesome to hear her singing for one of the first times ever.

Watch Out for Those Darn Boys

2009-05-01T22:20:00.006-05:00

Annabelle is just amazing. The things she says are a constant source of entertainment and amazement. Geneen, Annabelle and I were on our bed tonight playing when we started talking about playing outside in our cul-de-sac. I said "Annabelle, we have to watch out for cars, don't we?" She quickly replied, "...and boys too." It was so funny! We love her so very much. These are the precious moments we never forget. (Especially since we write them down!)

Did You Get the Memo?

2009-04-30T23:27:00.005-05:00

Re: The NBA
I love Inside the NBA on TNT. Charles, Ernie and Kenny. The Rockets sent the Trailblazers fishin '! Yeah!

Re: Photography
I'd been looking for this rather excellent article for a while. Boy do I know some of the let's-talk-about-our-equipment-rather-than-use-it types! Seven Levels of Photographers

Re: This website
I am going to be making some changes in the near future. I want to change blogging software, so the look of this site will probably change. Though I want to avoid it looking too bloggish. We'll see. Blogger is great, but it doesn't have some of the features I am looking for right now. So anyway, be on the lookout, ye three people who actually read this blog. Oh, and Anonymous, who loves to make nasty comments -- you too.

Re: Annabelle
We spent hours in the pool today. She's a little water baby. So funny and adorable and unique and precious.

Where Did He Go?

2009-04-30T09:18:00.002-05:00

We were sitting having breakfast. Annabelle had a toy horse in here hand whom we were feeding cereal. She'd kind of forgotten the horse as she ate. I'd made some stacks of O-shaped cereal pieces and asked Annabelle if the horse wanted some from the tall stack. And she startedsaying "where horsey? Where horsey?"

I finally said, "he's in your hand!"

And she started to laugh like crazy. She'd forgotten that she was holding him while she ate.

I guess stuff like that happens at all ages. Someday she'll be walking around with the best of us -- her sunglasses on her head -- asking, where are my sunglasses?!"
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Comma-tose

2009-04-30T01:22:00.007-05:00

New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed after an aggressive public health campaign.

Is it just me or is that some bad writing? Where's a little ol' comma when you need one? So 160 people were killed (!) after an aggressive public health campaign?!? That IS aggressive isn't it? Wow! And, in addition to our friend the comma, I think I'd have used "have died" as opposed to "have been killed." Then again, I would not have written the sentence that way at all. But maybe I am just splitting hairs. Or not.

Anyway, today Annabelle woke up saying "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!"

I went to her door and knocked and said, "May I come in?"

"YEAH!" she yelled.

When I walked in she was jumping up and down and was just so very cute. Lil' Miss Adora-belle.

Cat Tales

2009-04-29T01:19:00.003-05:00

I am kind of irked right now. You go out of your way to help someone else and when you ask them for help it's like: What? Where? Me? And I don't ask for help that often. Consider this a face of great rage: >:-(

Anyway, in other news, Annabelle was hilarious today. When I went in to pick her up from her nap, the cat came in too. Sarah jumped up into Annabelle's crib to Anna's great delight. She was so excited to have Sarah in the crib with her. This is a big no-no for me, but just this once, I let her in there briefly. The best part is this: Our nickname for Sarah is "Reeny." And Annabelle has picked up on this. Unfortunately, she has a stuffed animal whose name is "Greeny." Now she thinks Sarah's name is also "Greeny." It's hilarious.

So when Sarah jumped out of the crib (much to the Anna's dismay), she kept trying to call her back yelling, "Greeny! Greeny!" It was hilarious.

This might, however, be one of those cases of "you had to be there" to find it as funny as I did.

Anyway, yay Annabelle! And grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr other people.

Miss Independent

2009-04-27T18:48:00.002-05:00

Annabelle is really becoming her own little person. She wants to do everything "myself", from mopping the floor to holding her books and turning the pages as we read. She is an amazing little girl! So much of her becoming such a wonderful, bright child is because of Geneen. Geneen spends so much time reading to Annabelle and teaching her. Annabelle is even learning some Russian from Geneen. I love them both so much.

United Colors of Annabelle

2009-04-26T19:23:00.001-05:00

Annabelle knows all her colors: green, yellow, pink, blue, orange, white, black, clear (!) and "grape"!
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Three in Bird's Nest

2009-04-19T00:11:00.004-05:00

Maybe I'm the jerk, but it bugs me when people say, "our goalie was amazing, now if we'd just score a bit more." YOU aren't playing, so there's no "our" there.

I know, I know, I am a cantankerous jerk sometimes.

On the lighter side, it's been raining nonstop for two days, so we've had to come up with alternative entertainment. Forts, improvised nests. Yes, improvised nests. Annabelle likes to pretend she's a bird and the pillows are her nest. In this world of make believe she sits on eggs, feeds Mommy and Daddy -- and herself worms, and flies in and lands in the nest. It's very cute. Especially the enthusiastic delivery of words like: "NEST!" "WORMS!" "FLY!" There is no substitute for the sheer excitement and squeals this kind of play elicits!

She's so very cute.

Dancing!

2009-04-08T20:25:00.002-05:00

Annabelle loves "Dancing With the Stars.". When she found out we didn't have it recorded she threw a huge hissy fit, complete with crying and jumping up and down. She kept demanding, "Mommy dance!" "Daddy dance!" And pointing toward the open space in the room. So cute. Maybe a baby Julianne Hough?
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2009-04-06T08:56:00.001-05:00

Annabelle just gets more adorable by the day. I can't believe that this little person with opinions and likes and dislikes was once this tiny little thing that used to dance on my bladder when I was pregnant. A few notes...

* I was singing a song she calls "moon song" last night and she wanted to hear it again and again and again.
* We'd put her in a pink cheetah print robe after she came out of the hot tub and she was going around doing a hand motion like a big cat swiping at something, while saying "grrrr!"

* She knows which books are my Russian books. I've been teaching her a little bit. And when I ask her, "do you speak Russian?" She says, "Da!" It's hilarious and adorable.
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She'll Make a Good Boss Someday

2009-03-31T10:51:00.001-05:00

Annabelle just said, "make a house!" Yes she used the article "a.". I am newly amazed everyday.
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2009-03-24T17:14:00.001-05:00

Annabelle and I were playing when she heard Andy's car. She rushed to the landing to look through the window yelling "Daddy! Daddy!" All the way. She stood there for a moment before looking up at me and sobbing, "No one! No one!"

Even though I knew he was there, she just couldn't see him, it broke my heart.
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