Ear Candleing

*****Warning. The following post is not for the queasy. There is gobs of ear wax pictured below. Please do not proceed unless you think gobs of ear wax is fun.***

Joni had more in store for us on Easter than just an adult Easter Egg Hunt. She brought out her beauty supplies and dewaxed all of our ears.

Jenn, Lyz, Chris and Joni had to turn it into a contest of course. I didn’t mind having my ears dewaxed, but the idea of showing everyone my pile of wax was totally mortifying! Not to mention having to see other people’s piles of wax. Gag. It may not be a very liquidy bodily fluid, but it is still a bodily fluid in my book!

Jenn:
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Lyz:
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Me:
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Chris:
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Joni:
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And now for the uber disgusting part. Our piles of ear wax:
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Oh My Word. Foulness. Do you see that huge worm of brown ear wax that came out of Chris??? He swears he didn’t feel it. I don’t see how he couldn’t have!!!! Here, let me give you a closeup:
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I made sure to label the pictures really clearly on Flickr…I think they look like a bunch of joints:
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It may be gross, but hey, I can totally hear clearer than I ever thought was possible! I didn’t even know my ears were clogged! Thanks Joni!

Mingo Monday

This is a Many Mingoed Monday!

First we will start with the Pittsburgh Zoo. Avery and I were so excited to see the flamingos the zoo had!! I warned her that flamingos smell very VERY bad, she laughed. While we were up visiting the polar bear Chris pointed down the hill and through the trees—FLAMINGOS!!
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See them?? It was a totally zoomed in photo through trees and a fence.

Where is the better picture, the close ups you ask? Well there aren’t any. Pout. When we got to the part of the zoo that holds the flamingos, their enclosure was empty. It must have been too cold for them so the zoo keepers took them inside. The above picture was the only flamingo sighting we had at the zoo. Thank you Chris for making sure we saw them!

Second we saw this sign at the Carnegie Science Factory:
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Mingos!!!

Third, rainbow cake is only yummy when eaten with flamingo forks:
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Finally fourth, my boss is at the zoo in Washington DC and heard my no flamingos at the Pittsburgh Zoo woes…so he sent me a picture of the Washington DC flamingos! Isn’t he the greatest boss ever??:
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Mingo Monday

This is a Many Mingoed Monday!

First we will start with the Pittsburgh Zoo. Avery and I were so excited to see the flamingos the zoo had!! I warned her that flamingos smell very VERY bad, she laughed. While we were up visiting the polar bear Chris pointed down the hill and through the trees—FLAMINGOS!!
Image
See them?? It was a totally zoomed in photo through trees and a fence.

Where is the better picture, the close ups you ask? Well there aren’t any. Pout. When we got to the part of the zoo that holds the flamingos, their enclosure was empty. It must have been too cold for them so the zoo keepers took them inside. The above picture was the only flamingo sighting we had at the zoo. Thank you Chris for making sure we saw them!

Second we saw this sign at the Carnegie Science Factory:
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Mingos!!!

Third, rainbow cake is only yummy when eaten with flamingo forks:
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Finally fourth, my boss is at the zoo in Washington DC and heard my no flamingos at the Pittsburgh Zoo woes…so he sent me a picture of the Washington DC flamingos! Isn’t he the greatest boss ever??:
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Hoppy Easter!

I may have mentioned before that I believe that Easter is the worst of the childless holidays*. At least with Christmas there are still presents, Halloween you can still dress up and pass out candy. That Thursday in November…there is still yummy food.

But Easter? Two adults would look a little silly hiding eggs in the backyard for each other to find. We weren’t invited over to anyone’s egg dying parties this year**, so no reason to dye eggs (poor Minne, she loves her a good hard boiled egg.)

This would have been Blue’s first Easter. It is such a beautiful day out. There are just a few cute little fluffy clouds in the bright blue sky, making it look like it is painted. We would have had so much fun hiding a few eggs for him to crawl around and find. His Easter basket would have been filled with peanut butter eggs and Cadbury creme eggs for Jenn and I. Oh, and lots of nasty black licorice flavored jelly beans for Jenn too. Maybe Blue would have liked black licorice flavor? (gag)

So, instead of moping over what we are missing***, we decided to enjoy the day! Okay, I’m lying. We weren’t going to do anything special today but take a nap and make pizza for dinner. Then Joni came along and said Nope! You shall come over and we shall spend time together. For some odd reason she really hates it when Jenn and I don’t celebrate holidays. She just won’t let us stay home and mope.

So, we decided to bring dessert. The message board I belong to, and seemingly the rest of the internet, have been hailing the all wonderful and beautiful rainbow cake. Most people are making a loverly diet version of it. Not us. We made our own version. And yes, of course we took pictures!!!

Making the white cake batter:
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Dividing the batter into six bowls:
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Mixing in the colors:
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Rainbow of batter:
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(Like our new countertops?)
Layering the batter:
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Pans of layered cake:
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Hey, we aren’t always perfect:
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Finished product:
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Looking after it was sliced:
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A yummy slice!
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We also watched Avery have a little Easter Egg Hunt, the bunny hid one on our car:
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And then Joni had a special Easter Egg Hunt for the adults! She hid eggs in very difficult places…under the shed, in the wood pile, in the garbage can, in the sewer pipe, and over the other side of the fence:
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Each of the eggs was two colors and Joni had a prize list for the different eggs, it was kinda like bingo. Anyone have a Pink and Yellow Egg? Bingo!!:
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And then the prizes were handed out. Avery and Jenn modeling our rewards:
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Joni hid them so well, that there are still five more hidden somewhere in the Landii yard!

What started off as a day at work with me crying because I miss my son so much, ended as a wonderful day spent with people we love, smiling, laughing and snuggling:
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*Yes, I know that “the real reason for Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sorry, the religious aspect isn’t important to me right now as God and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms.

**This is not meant to be a guilt trip towards those that could have invited us to their egg dying parties. I am just stating a fact, I am not offended at not being invited. My massive whining about the holiday is what most likely made you not invite me to your party so it is my own fault not yours!!

***Ha! Don’t be fooled, we are still moping!

Hoppy Easter!

I may have mentioned before that I believe that Easter is the worst of the childless holidays*. At least with Christmas there are still presents, Halloween you can still dress up and pass out candy. That Thursday in November…there is still yummy food.

But Easter? Two adults would look a little silly hiding eggs in the backyard for each other to find. We weren’t invited over to anyone’s egg dying parties this year**, so no reason to dye eggs (poor Minne, she loves her a good hard boiled egg.)

This would have been Blue’s first Easter. It is such a beautiful day out. There are just a few cute little fluffy clouds in the bright blue sky, making it look like it is painted. We would have had so much fun hiding a few eggs for him to crawl around and find. His Easter basket would have been filled with peanut butter eggs and Cadbury creme eggs for Jenn and I. Oh, and lots of nasty black licorice flavored jelly beans for Jenn too. Maybe Blue would have liked black licorice flavor? (gag)

So, instead of moping over what we are missing***, we decided to enjoy the day! Okay, I’m lying. We weren’t going to do anything special today but take a nap and make pizza for dinner. Then Joni came along and said Nope! You shall come over and we shall spend time together. For some odd reason she really hates it when Jenn and I don’t celebrate holidays. She just won’t let us stay home and mope.

So, we decided to bring dessert. The message board I belong to, and seemingly the rest of the internet, have been hailing the all wonderful and beautiful rainbow cake. Most people are making a loverly diet version of it. Not us. We made our own version. And yes, of course we took pictures!!!

Making the white cake batter:
Image
Dividing the batter into six bowls:
Image
Mixing in the colors:
Image
Rainbow of batter:
Image
(Like our new countertops?)
Layering the batter:
Image
Pans of layered cake:
Image
Hey, we aren’t always perfect:
Image
Finished product:
Image
Looking after it was sliced:
Image
A yummy slice!
Image

We also watched Avery have a little Easter Egg Hunt, the bunny hid one on our car:
Image

And then Joni had a special Easter Egg Hunt for the adults! She hid eggs in very difficult places…under the shed, in the wood pile, in the garbage can, in the sewer pipe, and over the other side of the fence:
Image
Each of the eggs was two colors and Joni had a prize list for the different eggs, it was kinda like bingo. Anyone have a Pink and Yellow Egg? Bingo!!:
Image
And then the prizes were handed out. Avery and Jenn modeling our rewards:
Image
Joni hid them so well, that there are still five more hidden somewhere in the Landii yard!

What started off as a day at work with me crying because I miss my son so much, ended as a wonderful day spent with people we love, smiling, laughing and snuggling:
Image

*Yes, I know that “the real reason for Easter is to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sorry, the religious aspect isn’t important to me right now as God and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms.

**This is not meant to be a guilt trip towards those that could have invited us to their egg dying parties. I am just stating a fact, I am not offended at not being invited. My massive whining about the holiday is what most likely made you not invite me to your party so it is my own fault not yours!!

***Ha! Don’t be fooled, we are still moping!

Announcing Avery’s Garden

After several months of talking about it, Avery’s Garden got started today. If you are interested in following along you can see her very own blog here at Avery’s Garden. As we get further into the process I plan on interviewing her and getting her point of view on the way things are growing!!

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As you can see…she is very excited to work on her gardening project!!

Announcing Avery’s Garden

After several months of talking about it, Avery’s Garden got started today. If you are interested in following along you can see her very own blog here at Avery’s Garden. As we get further into the process I plan on interviewing her and getting her point of view on the way things are growing!!

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As you can see…she is very excited to work on her gardening project!!

Pittsburgh Trip-Carnegie Science Center and Primanti Brothers

We stayed an extra day. We blamed the snow, even though there was hardly any on the ground. But we wanted more fun, and the hotel night was free!!! Can you blame us?

Headed out to the Carnegie Science Center for some fun. Apparently all of the schools in the greater Pittsburgh area had the same idea. The place was freaking packed!!

Joni and Delaney had some fun wheeling around:
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We all had fun with the thermal imaging camera (I think Jenn was searching for ghosts):
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We made shadow pictures:
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Avery became a jumping bean:
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Jenn’s favorite part was the model train:
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And playing with Delaney:
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Then we walked around on a submarine, Avery and I were not thrilled with the tight quarters:
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After that we headed to Primanti Brothers for lunch. It is a place that has been on the Travel Channel and Food Network and Chris had been there when he was young.

Messy sandwich with burger, french fries, and coleslaw:
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But everyone really enjoyed them:
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On our way out of town we drove past the viewing for the three police officers that were shot last week in Pittsburgh. It was very moving, and especially so when you are traveling with a police officer. We worry about Chris every day, and are thankful for men like him who are willing to put their lives on the line every day to protect us.

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And then…we went home 🙂 Everyone was tired out:
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Pittsburgh Trip-Carnegie Science Center and Primanti Brothers

We stayed an extra day. We blamed the snow, even though there was hardly any on the ground. But we wanted more fun, and the hotel night was free!!! Can you blame us?

Headed out to the Carnegie Science Center for some fun. Apparently all of the schools in the greater Pittsburgh area had the same idea. The place was freaking packed!!

Joni and Delaney had some fun wheeling around:
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We all had fun with the thermal imaging camera (I think Jenn was searching for ghosts):
Image

We made shadow pictures:
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Avery became a jumping bean:
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Jenn’s favorite part was the model train:
Image

And playing with Delaney:
Image

Then we walked around on a submarine, Avery and I were not thrilled with the tight quarters:
Image

After that we headed to Primanti Brothers for lunch. It is a place that has been on the Travel Channel and Food Network and Chris had been there when he was young.

Messy sandwich with burger, french fries, and coleslaw:
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But everyone really enjoyed them:
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On our way out of town we drove past the viewing for the three police officers that were shot last week in Pittsburgh. It was very moving, and especially so when you are traveling with a police officer. We worry about Chris every day, and are thankful for men like him who are willing to put their lives on the line every day to protect us.

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And then…we went home 🙂 Everyone was tired out:
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Pittsburgh Trip-Carnegie Natural History Museum

I really wish I would have caught on video Avery’s reaction of seeing the first dinosaur. This girl LOVES her some dinosaur. She was so excited to go to the dinosaur museum!!!

Avery and her first dinosaur:
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Teaching us something:
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A LONG NECK!!!!:
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Chris took this from the third floor:
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Jenn and Avery:
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The T-Rex’s
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Delaney was rather bored by the whole thing:
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Interestingly enough, when Avery was asked afterwards what her favorite part of the dinosaur museum was…the bears:
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(My favorite part…the elevator system)

For dinner we went to Smokey Bones and I thought it was pretty darn yummy. After dinner we again hung out in the room (after a huge fight with the hotel who hadn’t cleaned the Landii room after we specifically asked for a throughall cleaning due to Avery’s vomiting. This did result in a free night for all of us.)

Chris, Jenn and Avery were thrilled by a set of magnetic marbles:
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Avery and I read the googly dinosaur book:
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And then it was bedtime again!