The Children are our Future

Overheard at the pool yesterday....

Boy #1 "If Hilary Clinton wins for President, I'm moving to Canada"

Boy #2 "You're 12"

Boy #1 "I don't care, I'm going"

Boy #2 "You know who might win? John Edwards. There are a lot of North Carolina fans out there"

Boy #1 "You are totally right"

POTD: May 28, 2007

Thoughts from Savannah

"Mo Feeeeesh"

"Do you want more goldfish to eat or to squish?" (she had been mashing them into the table)

"Skeesh"

At least she's honest.

POTD: May 25, 2007

Pigtails!!!! (They stayed in for less than 5 minutes, but still cute)

POTD: May 23, 2007

Best Daddy Ever!

You may think that your dad or your husband is the best Daddy in the world......I submit to you one Conor Cunningham.

Every night he helps me get Savannah ready for bed. He undresses her and brings her to me to give her a bath. While she's taking a bath, he arranges all her bed toys into a tableau of some form. She LOVES it! Here are some examples.

Ballroom Dancing

Here, Hoot is getting tossed into the air by everyone.

The Great Escape

Conga Line

POTD: May 22, 2007

Savannah's latest performance art piece entitled

"Baby in a Laundry Hamper"

This was her idea by the way.

POTD: May 21, 2007

The one of Damian is from a few weeks ago, but I forgot to post it. I've been letting my pictures stack up and then I forget what I have.

Sticker Moustaches

Mother's Day Brunch

We had the whole family in town on Mother's Day! It was so great. I decided that we should do a Mimosa and pastry brunch to celebrate. I don't care that I planned my own Mother's Day Brunch - it was delightful.

Here are the photos!

Packing Up to Go

Savannah and I had a playgroup today and as we were getting ready to go, Savannah decided that she needed certain items to go with us. It was very cute (a: because she actually understood that we were going somewhere - she asked for her shoes "shoooooooos!" and b: see the following).

Here's what she piled into my purse:

• a ball
• an empty water bottle
• a picture that she had drawn
• a book
• Elmo (duh)
• an old balloon
• one of my flip flops
• Baby Pig

THEN, she tried to put her toy Microwave AND her toy mailbox into my purse. I was hysterical with laughter.

P's OTD: May 16, 2007

Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

All answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions :

Why did God make mothers?

1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2. Mostly to clean the house.

3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.

2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.

3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of ?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.

2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

1. We're related.

2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?

1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.

2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.

3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

1. His last name.

2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?

3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?

1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.

2. She got too old to do anything else with him.

3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?

1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.

2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.

3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms & dads?

1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.

2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.

3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.

4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don't do spare time.

2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.

2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that

2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.

3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Seventeen Months!

You turned 17 months old!

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity and learning for you. I can't believe that just 10 weeks ago you couldn't walk and now you are trying to climb onto the couch. Just five months ago, you rarely said "MaMa" or "DaDa" and now we hear them all the time (along with LOTS of other words) .

You have amazed me with your ability to count (all the way to 10!) and actually recognize letters. I almost fell over when I heard you say "Q" after I pointed to it and then you said several other letters when I pointed to those.

Your pesonality continues to grow along with your flair for the dramatic. We still get plenty of kisses and smiles but we have also been barraged with many no's and temper tantrums. Sometimes the no is very gleeful and that makes me laugh. I am so happy that you have a sense of humor, though. It's really delightful to hear you laugh when your Dad or I does something silly.

You are amazingly good with your hands and can spend lots of time putting things inside other things (and then shaking them all out). Your latest best friend is "Beee-Beee Peeg" (Baby Pig). He's a little piggy bank I bought you when we were in Dallas.

Oh how you love Baby Pig. You often ask for him first thing in the morning and I had to let you nap with him the other day. You also still love Elmo, Little Einsteins and Knuffle Bunny. Poor Hoot has been relagated to second tier status.

While we are thrilled that you are growing up to be quite a little person, we are mouring 'baby' Savannah a little. While I don't miss you screaming from 8PM to 3 AM, I can't believe what a big girl you are already. It seems you were our little football just last week.

Kisses!

FYI

Pictures and the 17 month update coming soon, but I thought I'd let you know that the house inspection went well. There are some things to fix, of course, but no Plutonium (sorry Rich).

Random Weekend Stuff

1. On Friday, we were going out for dinner for a belated birthday celebration for me (We went to Kerby Lane - they have breakfast 24 hours a day! Seattle people, it's like the Brown Bag Cafe, except open 24 hours) and on the way there, we were stopped at a light and this girl in flip flops and talking on her cell phone jaywalked across this busy street and totally got hit by a car right in front of us!!!!!! It was horrifying. The car ran over her foot and her foot was MESSED UP!

The poor thing was so shaken up. I couldn't get out of the car, but yelled her "Are you OK?" and she said "Yes, but my foot is really messed up!" Ummmm...no duh. Some people that could get to her helped her and we called 911. But THEN, she got into the car of the guy that hit her. I think he said he was going to take her to the hospital.

The 911 operator was not happy about that and fortunately a police car pulled up right as it was happening. I'm not saying that the young guy would have done anything to her, but come on girls! Don't get into a car of a stranger even if your foot is totally jacked. WAIT for the ambulance. The other lesson to learn? Don't jaywalk across a busy street at rush hour wearing flip flops and talking on your cell phone. It's a bit of a recipe for disaster.

2. Apparently, we are screwed as far as getting Savannah into preschool any time soon. Like the housing market, preschools are SUPER competitive here. It appears that I should have had her on a wait list from birth. So I'm diligently sending in all my forms to a billion preschools and hopefully when the time comes, we'll get her in somewhere. Ack!

3. I hate Time Warner Cable. A lot.

4. If you like looking at pretty pictures of homes and are obsessed with interior design as I am at this moment, try this blog: http://www.markcutlerdesign.blogspot.com/. In addition to awesome pictures, he is really great about explaining things and giving hints.

Gaga for the Ga-Ga's

Savannah had a lot of fun with all her Grandparents the other weekend. She called all of them "Ga-Ga", which I think everybody loved. It doesn't really seem to confuse her that she has two grandmas and two grandpas, which is great. She's been asking for "Ga-Ga" quite a bit the last few days. Here are some pictures.

My dad is building a tower for her to knock down and Savannah is admiring Murphy, the Cunningham's cat. Savannah calls her "Mee-Mee".

The House!

Well, we FINALLY found a house. Conor and I have been truly surprised by how competitive the Austin market is. We thought we'd stroll in here with our west coast equity and own any house we wanted....they give them away here right? Ummmmm....no.



To be fair, we really wanted to be in town and close to everything. Living as far out as we did in Bothell made it hard to enjoy all the cool things about Seattle because we had to drive across a bridge to get to them. However, the in town Austin market is INSANE. We're talking houses that are falling apart selling in a day for $300 a square foot. No thank you.



The search was getting really depressing and very stressful, so we widened our area just a bit and then we stumbled on this house.




We went to look at it and this is what sold us.

You guys.....they could have told me that there was a den of pit vipers on the second floor and I wouldn't have even heard them. I would have been like "Is that a plate warmer? Two ovens AND a prep sink!?!" I almost passed out I loved this kitchen so much.

We had some tense times during negotiations, but we found out on Friday that it's ours! The inspection is next week, so hopefully they don't find Plutonium in one of the closets. We close the end of June and it can't get here soon enough for me. Here are some more pictures.

The master bedroom

The backyard (we totally scored the playscape!)

They converted their dining room into a kids play room.

One of the owners is a painter and they made one of the upstairs rooms into an artist's studio. It has tons of natural light. DIBS!

More backyard

I'll post some more pictures once we get into the house, but thought you'd enjoy seeing this. What do you think? We are super excited.