Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Dear Nana and Papa...

Dear Nana and Papa,

Hi from Danae!

I loved seeing you at Christmastime! Thank you SO much for the gifts you gave me (and Brother says "thank you", too). I really love my new art set, as shown below.

But Mommy and Daddy-O took away the scissors yesterday. I guess that would happen when you use them to cut Brother's hair instead of the paper that came with the set. I just thought it looked like a fun thing to do. Even though it was only about an inch or two, Mommy still thought that was too much and didn't think it was time for Brother's first haircut just yet. She also didn't know that safety scissors can cut hair that easily.


He now has a spike at the top of his head. I'm still his favorite, though.


I love you and hope to see you soon!


- Danae

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

We are currently in NJ, enjoying time with my family. We had a busy but fun day of presents, breakfast baked by yours truly (apple french toast and an egg casserole...yum!), and game-playing (mainly Super Smash Bros. Brawl on WII...yup, I now feel hip and with it). :o) We were able to get decent pictures of the four grandchildren all together, which was lots of fun.
Here are the four cuties: Meagan (16), Madison (9), Danae (3), and Caedon (almost 5 months old).

This was the first year we did a "white elephant" gift exchange on Christmas Eve with my family. We usually do a Secret Santa among us siblings and spouses, and this year we decided to add something new and have everyone involved. What funny items we had this year! (Christa, I need a pic of you in the blue-man suit. Yes, I will post it on here.) :o)

Miraculously, we even got a family picture on Christmas morning (minus my sleeping Caedon), and we are all smiling at the camera. Amazing!


We hope your Christmas Day was enjoyable, too! Tomorrow night will bring dinner and Christmas with Hubby's family, and I'll be sure to post pics from that! Adios!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Bambi

Meet Bambi, coming to a dinner plate near you...well, a dinner plate in our house, anyway.




For more photos from our weekend away, click on "Ulrich Family Shutterfly Pics" on the left, under the Favorite Sites listing.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

What a week, plus some Danae-isms

It's amazing what can happen in just a few short days...

Last Sunday our laptop started giving us some problems...shutting down randomly, not starting up, etc. I took it in and had the problem resolved. Then, on Thursday afternoon, it decided to just not start at all. No lights, nothing. Now, mind you, this laptop was the only computer we used. No operating desktop here. Also, this laptop held the key to LOTS of things: accounting information for three businesses, plus all of my grant work, plus all of our pictures, personal information, etc. I was in a panic thinking I had lost all of my grant work and all tax information for the three businesses we are involved in. What a NIGHTMARE!

Thankfully, the computer experts believe the laptop can be fixed (in a week or so), but in the meantime we decided to purchase a desktop to keep things safe and so that I can meet my deadlines this week. We realized that it's not so smart to be traveling around with all of that information on a laptop that can easily be stolen or completely messed up. (Go ahead, say it: DUH.) Then, the Internet decided to stop working for the past day, so my wonderful idea of getting work done this weekend was shot down. Thankfully, the folks at Comcast sent a tech out on Sunday, and after replacing a few wires and a splitter, we have the fastest Internet I've ever experienced. (Thanks, Comcast...I'll curb the bad-mouthing for now.)


Now that the nightmare is somewhat over (once the laptop is fixed, my heart rate will return to normal), let me provide you with the next edition of Danae-isms. This week has been chock-full of them, and she has kept us rolling despite the elevated stress levels. Here are just a couple, and I'll be sure to post more when they return to my memory:



1) I see Danae picking her nose in the tv room.
Me: Hey Danae, what are you doing?
Danae: Digging for gold.

2) Danae's version of the saying "Mock my smock and I'll clean your clock": "Smock my clock and you'll clean my clock."

3) Danae is sitting in our bed, getting ready to take a nap. I walk in on her nursing a stuffed Eyeore.
Danae: Hey, Mommy...can you cover me and my baby with that blanket so that no one sees me or my baby?

4) We were in our church's Christmas play yesterday (a simple, 5-minute, no-line role), and here's what happened while we sat on stage on Saturday during rehearsal. The stage lights come on, and Danae and I are supposed to be playing together. I see that she's picking her nose instead.
Me: (whispering): Danae, get your finger out of your nose. Danae, do you hear me? Psst...stop picking your nose!
Danae: (yells back at me, and I'm sitting right next to her): Mommy, I LIKE picking my nose!

(Thank God she did not do this during the actual play.) :o)


On a final note, my Hubby now has a new baby: a 1999 Suzuki Marauder.


I was always against him getting a motorcycle, mostly for safety reasons. I guess I just realized that there are many worse things out there that can kill him, and as long as he's wearing his helmet, he'll be fine. (Okay, okay...I caved, really.) You should have seen his face when the shipping truck arrived. I was on my way home from a run and there he was, standing on our front porch, looking like Santa had just arrived. Pure childlike glee. Oh, and in no way does he feel that this baby takes the joy or place of his other two babies...just making that clear. :o)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Deer and the Princess

We're back from our fun weekend away, where the husbands hunted deer and the wives stayed in their pj's for 2 days straight...oh how glorious that was!

The outcome: We drove home with a deer (doe, to be exact) on the roof of our Jeep. Yeah, the looks we got were kind of funny. The deer is now at the butcher, and we'll have meat in 3-5 weeks! Hubby's first deer! He was excited, needless to say. Shockingly, Peanut was also excited and very interested in seeing the dead deer. Hey, she could have been screaming crying about it. :o)

Speaking of screaming crying: I think I'll refrain from posting the video of her haircut. After previewing it, it's more crying than words, and you'd think it was funny if you were actually here in person at the moment. So, no haircut video. In it's place, here's a video we took a day or two ago. I heard singing over the baby's monitor, put down the dinner I was in the middle of making, and found this. Keep in mind that Peanut and I had just finished watching "Sleeping Beauty", so apparently one of the songs was still in her head. :o) Enjoy!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Update

Hello from Busyland!

Sorry for the week off. It's been a little crazy here...I'm sure like many of your households. The holidays are definitely upon us!

And so is hunting season. This Saturday is the last day of the season, so we are headed out tonight with friends for the weekend. It should be a great time of relaxation, hair-dying (the girls), playing/movie-watching (the kids), and maybe deer shooting (the men). (I'll be sure to post a pic of the new 'do...hopefully Sarah won't turn me orange!) ;o)

Here's a little glimpse of what's been up this past week:

Baby: Still no rolling over. It's funny: Danae rolled over at 3 months old, and he's 4 1/2 months old and has no interest. Maybe it's his size. He's not huge, but he is a little bigger for his age. Who knows...I'm not really worried about it. He's still dealing with a stuffy/runny nose, and it's been almost a month of this. Ugh. Keep praying that it clears completely!

Peanut: She's too funny. Here's a conversation that took place:
Danae: Hi Mommy! (hugs my legs) Can I tell you something?
Me: Sure! What's up?
Danae: Sometimes you smell. And you are a little stinky right now. But other times you smell good.
Me: Oh...ok...

She also told me this week that, when she's older, she's going to feed a baby the same way I feed Caedon. Interesting. I don't want to think about her getting older. Why can't they just stay 3???

The other thing that took place this week was...A FIRST HAIRCUT for my Peanut! Yeah, I know she's 3. (Duh.) But I have been sooo reluctant to cut her hair that I've been putting it off for a long time now. I just love it long and didn't want it messed up. But, it has been getting full of knots, and brushing it has turned into a battle lately. So, between Hubby and I, we gave it a little trim. She cried at first, but quickly got over it. I'll have to post some of the video on here. Between Caedon screaming in the background and Danae crying, it provides a little comic relief. :o)

So, I think that's it from here! Enjoy your weekend! Over and out!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

4-month update

Hey world...it's me, Caedon. I'm baaack! :o)

Four months have flown by since I entered this crazy world, and I've just been a big ball of fun and excitement for my mom, dad, and sister ever since. I had my four-month check-up yesterday, weighing in at 16 lbs., 10 oz. and measuring 28 inches long. The doctor just chuckles every time he looks at my chart and sees how I'm growing. (Is he laughing at me or with me?) The downside of going to the doctor's office is getting those three shots in my chubby thighs...ugh. Man, those hurt. I was fine after a minute or two, though...especially since my big sister held my hand the entire time. She's awesome. I love her hair. Pulling it is a lot of fun. :o)

I'm working on rolling over, but hey...with this big head, I'm really not in the mood most of the time. I'm also trying to talk a lot to everyone, and they get a big kick out of it. Overall, life is good, and I'm a growing healthy boy...what more could I ask for? :o)

Monday, December 1, 2008

Christmastime is here...

...and so are the decorations!

I guess after a week of feeling downright lousy, I needed something to do/change/look forward to. So, we got the tree, took out the decorations, and went to town on Saturday! Here are the results:


The house


The tree before decorations


The tree after decorations

My little elves

Picking the tree took no time at all. I'm not a shopper or browser type of person. I like to get things done the right way and as quick as possible so I can accomplish more. So when we all agreed on this tree after being at the farm for about 5 minutes, I was beyond excited!

Oh, and the last picture was an attempted Christmas card pose. I'm not fond of the background, and the effort went to pot about two seconds later when both kids started crying. Attempt #2 will hopefully be tonight! :o)