To my readers without live journals - please feel free to write. You can post an "anonymous" comment, but please tag them with your name so I know who you are!

The form of discipline used at daycare has been catching on with C Raz. When Daddy is bad and misbehaves, C Raz tells him "Tie moat, Daddy!" It's quite humorous.

Two stories...

1. Earlier this week C Raz came home with a scratch on his chin. Thinking he must have inflicted it upon himself, I trimmed his nails and told him "There, now they won't hurt your face anymore." His response was "No, Andrew did it." (There happen to be two Andrews in the toddler level at his daycare.) In response to more queries about his face, he repeated "Andrew did it" about 20 more times. I asked about it the next day, and apparently it was the result of overexuberant, reciprocal tickling. In the following days, at any mention of his chin (and sometimes when asked about other things as well), the popular response has been "Andrew did it."

2. Daddy tends to be the enforcer at our house. When C Raz is acting up, Daddy is the one who says no. C Raz, of course, does not like he word no. He breaks down in tears and comes running to me for solace. Recently, a new development has been that between his sobs he says "Daddy do!" I then ask him, "What did Daddy do now?" Because, of course, it wasn't that the toddler was "breaking the law," it was that Mean Daddy was picking on him!

Our gratitude goes out to Brian, who spotted the elusive Wii beast for us on the shopping plains, and Mom, who sounded the alert. Luckily I was able to quickly get to the hunt site and bag the prize.

Andy, who had developed a negative attitude that he would NEVER get one at this point, was very surprised when I brought my prey home and presented it at his feet.

And then I beat him three out of four games of bowling, with a high score of 191.

The other morning Colin informed me "Mama Daddy socks my pocket."

Which of course, translated, means "Hey mom, in case you were curious, Daddy was considerate enough to conveniently put my socks in my pocket for you."

I <3 my new DVR.

I don't <3 that I had to run home for a couple hours yesterday since my husband didn't take enough time off work yesterday for the time it took the guys to get there and install it.

As told by Daddy, as it is Mama's night out...

"So we get home and I'm flippin' hungry. I'm heating up the leftover turkey noodle soup but of course have to use the bathroom in the middle of it. Colin comes in and wants the potty. I'm so annoyed and hungry, I don't even want to put him on it. But he pulls down his pants so I do on the off-chance of a repeat performance of the other day. He sits there for a while and I'm losing my patience, so finally I pull him up and tell him that's enough. You should have seen the shock on my face when I saw what was in the bowl. It was a good-sized log!"

Sorry non-parental readers for these graphic tales of toddler toilet training. I just can't help myself.

Saturday spent the day at Mindi and Glen's. The ladies worked on Xmas cards, the guys watched the OSU/UM game. Colin bounced back and forth. Later we all played Wii. I couldn't get into my groove on the bowling like I had when I played at Cheri and Jerry's. But then we played golf and I won! I got a 48. Others were 51, 58 and 70!

Andy had asked Santa (aka me) for a Wii for Xmas, but we hadn't realized that it was still such an in demand item. Can't find them anywhere. Mindi was able to get theirs by calling Costco every day for two weeks to find out when the shipment was coming in, and then waiting outside the store before it opened for an hour.

So if anyone who reads this can find one more readily in their area, please let me know!

Paul and Amber's wedding was beautiful and a lot of fun. I was worried that our little ring bearer would be like a deer in the headlights when he saw how many people were there, but he was a champ. I was a very proud mama. He came down the aisle when he was supposed to, then stopped and posed for the photographer. Hopefully there are some great shots, as my camera chose that moment to run out of steam. We plugged it in for a while, but unfortunately Andy is not the best photographer. Most of the ones here were provided by Cheri's camera.

One of the coolest things about the wedding was having all of the family back together in the same place. It's not often that Paul, Tom, Fred, Corinna, Cheri and I manage to get home all at the same time.

It was also nice to have some baby-free time at the wedding after Grandma Kay picked the ring bearer up, so we could dance and talk without distraction. Although partying is just not the same now that Andy and I are a bunch of old teetotalers.



"Weddy, mama!"

( Click here for more of James Bond Jr. )

Because Colin didn't get to go to the Butterfly House on Mackinac due to the monsoon that hit the island our last morning there, we went to the Detroit Zoo the next day when we were home.

He loves the butterflies, penguins, camels and kangaroos the best. I think he'd like the "roars" better if they were closer. (Roars are both lions and tigers.)

He has no fear of animals up close...



...whether they are real...



...or fake!

FIXED THANKS TO SEAN AND CHERI!

This summer we went on our second annual family trip to Mackinac Island. The island holds special significance for both Andy and myself, so we really hope we get to continue this tradition. I love actually staying on the island, and getting to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere after most of the tourists have gone back to the mainland.

The car ride up went pretty well. We stayed overnight in Gaylord to break up the trip. However, Colin practiced for the terrible twos later in the trip, getting very frustrated with eating at a lot of restaurants and having to sit still on carriage rides. Flying broccoli!

This year we stayed at the Mission Point Resort. The amenities were great, but it was a little harder to be that far from downtown with a toddler. Next time we go we hope to take our own bikes and to have acquired our own Burley pull behind kid carriage.



Ready to go to dinner? This was the hotel shuttle. They wouldn’t let us pat the horses though, which may actually have been a good thing.

We enjoyed, among other things, the traditional bike ride around the island, a carriage tour, flying a kite, playing with rocks in the lake and chasing skyrats...er, seagulls. ( Click here to check out tons more photos of those adventures! )

Andy - "I put them there because I wasn't expecting a toddler to be in the room."

Amy - "No one ever expects the toddler inquisition."

Bah-dum-dum.

Amy - "Happy Birthday..."

Colin - "Daddeeee!"

Went to the Opie & Anthony comedy show out at DTE this weekend. Main comedian we wanted to see was Stephen Lynch, but there were also a couple other names on the roster that I'd seen before (Rich Vos, Carlos Mencia, Bob Saget) and knew would be pretty funny.

Unfortunately, they gave Stephen the shortest set - he only had time for two songs. He was great, and in general most of the show was funny. But two acts (Otto & George and Jim Norton) were just offensive for the sake of being offensive.

I potted a few annuals in a planter for the front garden this evening. Colin was oh-so-much help.

I'd pull a plant out of the plastic divider package near the root...he'd pull a plant out of the package by the bloom. I'd place it into the planter and tuck dirt around it...he'd fling it into the pot, hopefully not ripping off the top of the plant.

Then I watered...plants and Colin. I think the plants were much happier than he was about that.

Note: Bordine's up by us is generally overpriced, but when you are purchasing your plants after everyone else is done, it's all on sale. Whee! Also, discovered they have a play structure in the middle of the bush and tree section. Colin was very happy to indulge in the swing and slide while Daddy looked at arborvitae. Somehow managed not to order "bring me a shrubbery" despite the fact we purchased two, to plant in front of the part of our wooden fence that faces the road, per subdivision regulations. Yeah, we're only 3 years late on that....

We also bought a few new perennials to replace a few that haven't made it through. Colin and Daddy's favorite feels like a fuzzy soft teddy bear. Mine has those bell shaped flowers that ascend in size.

Those of you who have been around our dogs know how psychotic they can get. They will knock you over if excited enough. Many may also have witnessed the game they like to play called blue ball. (Get your mind out of the gutter - it's a game of catch down our hall using a raquetball.)

This morning one of the balls fell out of the cupboard, so Andy indulged the dogs and played a round with them while Colin was eating breakfast in his highchair. Apparently it was highly entertaining and elicited many giggles.

Later today, the ball got knocked down again. After the dogs played with it for a while, it was left unattended on the floor. Colin picked it up, went into the hallway, and threw it down the hall for them. And the psycho doggies went to fetch it...gently. The game went on for about 10 minutes. They would wait for Colin to throw the ball, scramble after it, take it to Daddy, who gave it back to Colin. Not once did they knock him over or snatch the ball out of his hand, despite the loud squeals of enjoyment emitting from the boy.

However, the game ended shortly after Colin got down on all fours and tried to imitate the dogs by picking up the ball in his mouth.

The results of the car fire that occurred after Andy's car stalled out the other day. Luckily, he was not in the vehicle. The insurance company has totalled it out, so we've been able to replace it, and they are picking it up from the junkyard today to investigate what happened.



We were able to salvage Andy's golf clubs from the trunk, but not the bag. The bottom had melted and fused to part of the car.



The dashboard was the scariest part....pretty much disintegrated. Stuff in backseat wasn't too bad, but who wants a 48-lb. bag of dog food that's been in a car fire?

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us with our multiple incidents this week.