Ratatouille

I know you all probably do the same thing. Watching a new movie you go through the previews and rate them under the categories: Theatre worthy, Rentals, Nothing else Rentals, or You couldn't pay me to watch. Well, if you don't, we do. We really love movies and we even DVR Ebert and Roeper (though we don't always agree with them) just to see what's coming up.

Anyway, to get to my point, when I saw the previews about a rat that loves to cook and controls a guy by pulling on his hair, I thought, "Ennnhhh, maybe we'll rent it, Colton might like it."
But you know what, WE LOVE IT! This really has been the cutest kids movie since Shrek 1&2 (not 3)! If you haven't seen this movie (even if you don't have kids), I would highly suggest it.

It has encouraged us to have fun with food and cooking, and if there is anything out there that can get my skinny kid to experiment with new foods, i'm for it!

We've also started DVRing the Iron Chef America :)

PS. It's also fun to say Rat-a-too-ee!!!

Christopher's first haircut & us being goofy

Before and After

Not too bad if I do say so myself. It is amazing how much older he looks without his little "wings". It was kind of sad snipping off his little baby hair. Sorry I don't have any pictures of me cutting it. Jesse was holding him on the counter, trying to distract him by letting him splash his feet in the sink, and I was wielding the cutting utensils. Needless to say, I didn't get a chance to snap and cut at the same time.

These pictures are from a couple days ago. Colton and I got the sillies and this is the result:

The Great Toy Organiztion of 2008

So we took every toy in the house, brought it to the living room, and proceeded to find a place for each one! It's amazing how a few shelves and some Rubbermaid tubs can transform cluttered, unused stuff into an organized, user-friendly space. (And of course, a box of stuff to donate).
Here's to Amber, (whom is tasking herself with 52 projects in 52 weeks) my inspiration for tackling the projects we really don't want to, but need to get done! And to my wonderful husband who motivates me when all I really want to do is relax on the couch and spend the day in my jammies (and puts up with my weird freakish control issues)!

From this:
To this:
And just for fun:

My husband buys Vanity Fair

We are not big celebrity followers, nor do we really keep up with celebrity news, but as we were zipping into the checkout lane, I had to stop mid sentence, look around and wonder where the heck did Jesse go? What could've stopped him dead in his tracks? The latest issue of Vanity Fair had his favorite actor on the cover... Harrison Ford. And it immediately got tossed on the pile (which normally would be quite a splurge for us, but I understood).
Jesse has been checking, on about a weekly basis, about development on Harrison's final Indy movie. Every update is excitedly read out loud and followed by "I hope you know we are going to the theaters May 22. If you don't want to, I'm leaving you at home!"
"Ummhmm, I know, I am also really excited to see it."

But I can completely understand his excitement, due to the fact that I am stoked about the Prince Caspian movie (sequel to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe)! I'm a big fan of the books and we started reading them to Colton before bed. Check it out!

So what movies are you looking forward?

3000 miles

We drove over 3000 miles on our trip.

The equivalent of driving from Seattle to Miami.

One hour from home we got a flat tire.

At 1:00 am and nothing was open.

The dog almost got run over on the interstate.

At one point both children were screaming, the wet dog was sitting on Colton and we were laughing hysterically at the situation. I grabbed my camera.

Here are the pictures:

This looks like one of those pictures you are supposed to find stuff in.
Can you find 1 dog, 2 children, ton

Jesse working on the tire.

At this point we were just delirious!

Please people... save me from my parents and get me outta this car!

Over the river and through the woods...

...and through the mountains, and across the desert, and by the ocean, and through the redwoods...
do you get the point?

Christmas with the Atchleys was great! We had a great time and the weather was surprisingly pleasant almost the whole time we were there! (We refer to rainy days here as "a Humboldt day") Here are some highlight pictures and if you wish to see the extended collection (i.e. mass amounts of pictures of our vacation) check out the link on the left.

Christopher in his "candy cane" pants and "baby's first christmas" shirt
Grandma Linda with Christopher on his new rocking horse.

The crew stopping for fish & chips and Chowdah at an Irish pub

A pelican trying to get into Target

Hike up the Trinidad Head

(minus Jesse, he was feeling poopy... literally! sorry too much info)

Jesse with his brother Erik, do they ever grow up ...didn't think so.

Had to stop in Reno on the way! Circus Circus was a blast!
Great Grandma Althea, Jesse and Christopher

Christopher giving Grandpa Jim snuggles.
Um, what is a New Years and why am I supposed to be happy about it?

This is my favorite Christmas picture. His bright eyes looking at the light of the tree.

(right before he stuck one in his mouth)

Just a quick note

Hey, just to let you all know that I haven't abandoned blogging. We got back Sunday morning at 5:00 am. uggggghhhhhhh! To include 3,000 miles on the car, a flat tire 1 hour away from home at 1:00 am and the dog almost getting hit by a car (while dealing with fore mentioned tire). I am still trying to get back into the swing of things. I promise many pictures they just have to escape from my camera. PS Santa got me Adobe Photoshop/Premiere for Christmas, so now I will have FABulous pictures... once I learn how to use it! :)