the hunt

on saturday, we got a bunch of little ones together for easter activities!

dying eggs

hula hooping

the cute little lineup

unleashing the little beasts

the search is on

enjoying their finds

probably should have stuck to the white ones.

loving easter.

mm hmm.

first off, a special shout out to facebook for the anniversary reminder i received days in advance. forgetting after only three years would have been terrible!...but seriously, a reminder? for the day i was married? really?

we had a sleepover at the nielsens place for easter over the weekend. grandpa of course was there, and so i have a couple of stories to share. actually...this first one happened a few weeks back and i failed to mention it.

are you familiar with those bracelet/ hologram things that people wear with pride and claim that it takes all of their aches/pain/weakness/stress/unhappiness away? perhaps not, but several individuals in the family have bought into that craziness sweet husband included and find joy in trying to prove it's power through simple balance and strength tests. greg's uncle expressed his skepticism and so the bracelet wearers in the family had him stand up so they could perform their mind blowing tricks of the brain tests on him. grandpa watched in horror as they pushed on his arms, spun him around, had him try to balance their weight among other silly things. he shook his head in disapproval and stated "i don't know, this is looking pretty gay!" that, coming from grandpa, make us all burst out in laughter!

on easter evening we, as a family, were discussing our many special talents. that sounds vain, but when i say special, i mean special. magic tricks that rarely work right, gleaking as in squirts of saliva exiting the mouth on command...and yes, you guessed it. that is of course gregory john's speciality, dance moves never before seen in public unless of course you've spent time with michelle, and many other unique qualities that we'd be more than happy to share if you want to come hangout with us sometime! greg's dad was performing one of his famous magic tricks. we were all seated to watch, grandpa included. chuck needed a penny for his trick. grandpa claimed he had pennies coming out of his ears and handed chuck two. we waited for him to get set up. and waited and waited and waited...as time passed, grandpa grew slightly confused as to why he was seated and what he was watching. finally, chuck was ready. he got us all fired up with anticipation. we were on the edge of our seats annnnnd, magic trick fail. this happened a few more times. grandpa grew bored, and maybe a little bit annoyed. he shook his head, as he stood up to leave. "i want my 2 cents back!"

grandpa found his ipod over the weekend. yes, grandpa has an ipod. he nearly sprinted out of his room in excitement to show us his find. ear buds in ear, he starts swaying back and forth to what i assume was the music blaring. he nods his head and smiles with his eyebrows high. i gave him a nod and smile of approval in return. he continues swaying noticing my lack of dancing and asks if i can hear the music. i shake my head no and his dance moves come to an abrupt stop. "no?" he asks at an insanely high volume. i'm assuming the music is fairly loud in his head. "no", i explain. "only you can hear the music from the ear buds. it doesn't play for everyone to hear" my attempt to explain the situation was useless when dealing with a partially deaf man with music at maximum volume blasting into his brain. he removed a bud. "you really can't hear this music? naahhhh, you're just fooling me. you can hear it! right?" the blank look on my face indicated otherwise, but he just thought it was ridiculous that i could not hear this wonderfully loud music that he continued to dance to and ignored me. i then noticed that he had the wall charger plugged into his ipod and the part that would normally plug into the wall was just in his hand. he noticed my curious glances at the object in his hand and explained "isn't this just great! i'm so glad i found this! and look! it's charging right now as we speak!" that's when i could no longer contain my laughter and i needed backup to help explain things to dear old grandpa. i hope patti was able to get through to him.

and with that, i'd like to leave you with well wishes received from a sweet asian waitress to patti at her birthday dinner last year. words i now live by and you should too!

insert your best asian accent now "i wish for you...more money, more happy and more sexy"

have a lovely week!

the twenty sixth of april

celebrating three years.

happy anniversary lover boy!

losing sleep....and marbles.

gregory and emmy were playing in the little one's room. i heard lots of squeals and laughter. that was coming from greg of course, but emmy was pretty wound up too. they were having a grand ol time. then i hear sweet husband say "no no emmy! that's mommy's garter!" *insert sounds of car tires on asphalt coming to a hault. i pause, in confusion. mommy's garter?? what on earth is he talking about? not only did he flick my garter to some random single fellow on our wedding night, but i'm almost 100% certain that i don't leave extra garters hanging around our little girls' room, but then again, i wouldn't put it passed me. i peek my head around the corner and into the hallway just in time to have a small lace object flicked at my face.

it was a baby headband. close.

i diagnosed myself with having an ulcer today, which would explain the icy hot sensation i've been feeling in my midsection for the duration of the day. i've been losing sleep the past few nights stressing about unnecessary details of life, and my stress induced teeth grinding problem is taking a real toll on my jaw. i feel like i need to do something different, but i can't quite pinpoint exactly what. aside from changing my diet. i hear cadbury creme eggs aren't all that compatible with ulcers. but i did of course diagnose myself, which isn't all that accurate, so until i receive a second opinion, the creme egg diet remains, solely to help keep my spirits up.

i'm pretty sure that i'm losing my marbles and i really don't love that feeling. i like all of my marbles. and i really can't afford to lose any.

nikki's book club.

my sweet husband once had a crush on jennifer lopez. i don't think it fully went away because he now watches american idol with me. he makes comments about her appearance. comments like "i really like when her hair is down and full of body!" full of body!?!?!? who are you? sweet husband also has a crush on catherine zeta jones, which makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit for some reason, and his biggest crush aside from me would probably be on jessica alba. i'm completely understanding when it comes to jessica alba, she's smokin hot. in fact, i think i just added her to my celebrity crush list. right up there with david beckham.

i just read a book. hold the applause. not an intellectual book by any means. it is called "are you there vodka? it's me, chelsea" by chelsea handler, who by the way i found to be quite obnoxious until i read her words. change of heart. she had me in hysterics and although the language was inappropriate, and come to think of it the majority of the topics were also slightly inappropriate, i found it to be ever so amusing. if you're in the mood for a humorous read with questionable content, look no further my friends.

and on that note, i leave you with a picture from gregory's phone that made my day.

front and center

emmerson enjoys a good sing-a-long with the other little ones at church!

hope you all had a lovely sunday!

mr. golden sun, please shine down on me!

based on last year's experiences, i was a wee bit hesitant to take our girl to the beach this year. she couldn't even walk for the majority of last summer, yet she managed to bolt for the waves without an inkling of fear. i even let her get knocked down a couple of times just to teach her a valuable life lesson about the mix of the powerful ocean and gravity, but that didn't phase little fearless whatsoever. she had little to no interest in playing in the sand, and so unless i wanted to be ass deep in salt water bobbing the baby up and down in the waves for our entire stay, i avoided the beach at all cost. luckily, last summer wasn't all that hot and so the beach trips were kept to a minimum. today was pretty warm and so i decided to give it a go, just emmerson and i. i explained to her in the car on the way that this was a test, and would determine how our entire summer would play out. i told her that if she was a good girl, then we could make the beach a regular event, and if she was naughty then she would be banned from the sand until further notice. she looked confused, but some of my words must have soaked into that big head of hers because we had so much fun. little social butterfly made some new friends who happen to have a house right on the sand, way to pick 'em, kid! she played nicely in the sand, she played in the small waves in the shallow water, and she remained happy the whole time! it was so pleasant. what a relief. summer, i officially welcome you with open arms.

L is for the way you look at me.

i pranced over to my sweet husband and wrapped my arms around his neck. i smiled a big smile, gave him a heartfelt hug, then gazed into his sparkling blue eyes. "i'm glad you're mine" i told him. he smiled back at me and replied lovingly, "forever..........as long as you don't do anything to screw it up!?" not the response i was looking for.

mmmmmm isn't he charming? i'm one lucky gal.

haha

reviews.

I stole a balloon. i don't know what got into me? we were walking out of henry's and there were two helium balloons taped to a post. the little one lost her cool and went bananas for said balloon, so i yoinked it. it was just a henry's balloon, i figured we were practically doing them a favor by advertising for them. no big deal. what's gonna happen? is a worker gonna come running after us to get the henry's balloon back? nope. wanna know what happens when you steal a balloon? it pops off of the string when you're getting your kid out of her stroller, and then you have to jump up and down in an excited manner while clapping your hands in the street like a lunatic to make it seem like it's so much fun when your balloon flies up into the sky with the birdies to avoid a major meltdown, thats what. wanna know what else happens? you get to sprinkles just a little too late, missing out on a free cupcake. don't steal. it will ruin your life.

and now for a cupcake review. i wish i could do this for a living.

we tried a couple of new places. cb cupcakes located in carlsbad outlet mall there are other locations including utc mall, not that you'll really care all that much after reading my thoughts. to be blunt, disgusting. and that's a rather difficult thing to accomplish for an avid lover of cupcakes like myself, but i couldn't even finish it. leftover king himself didn't even finish it, and he pretty much eats trash. so that just goes to show how unpleasant these cupcakes truly are. not to mention the fact that they cost the same as sprinkles!? what a rip.

last night, greg went on yelp to write a bad review, only to find that everything we had to say, had already been said. i guess we should have read reviews before trying it out. this however, led us to a bakery in encinitas with nearly perfect reviews. it sparked our interest, so we checked out the website to learn more. sweet husband read off the flavors "strawberry kiss, chocolate toffee, the bee's ka-nees"...i nearly lost it. gregory?? is it the bee's knees??? yeah. it is. he forgot that the "k" was silent in knees for a moment. i'm pretty sure he was blonde for a short time as a child. we'll blame it on that. regardless, i made him promise to take me there today and it really truly seriously is the bee's knees!!! i had a hard time deciding whether i liked this new place or sprinkles better if you can imagine that! i just have a secret love affair with the frosting at sprinkles, it is perfection to me, therefore i think sprinkles will always remain #1 in my heart, but this is a really close second which is huge, and i will admit the flavors offered may just be even better than sprinkles. ladies and gentlemen, if you have yet to try it, and you live in the san diego area, i strongly encourage you to make your way to elizabethan desserts. you won't be sorry. i don't know how i didn't find this place sooner? just feast your eyes on these concoctions and try to tell me you don't want to rush there immediately.

your welcome.

gettin my beach bod on.

yesterday was monday, and today is thursday. i've gone mental and i don't know how to regain my sanity. i hate weeks like this where i just can't seem to do anything right, or even think straight for that matter. i also hate weeks when i forget to eat all day long and find myself stuffing an entire days worth of calories into my body at 10:00pm. those calories mainly consisting of chocolate, ice cream and cookies. that really can't be good for the bod. sometimes during these spring months i struggle trying to decide what makes me happier. feasting on these decadent treats? or the thought of fitting nicely into my new bathing suit? why oh why must they come out with chocolate mini eggs and cadbury creme eggs just months before we prance around nearly naked in public, i will never understand. harsh.

there is music in emmy's soul today.

the days of our lives. (titled by greg)

sweet husband's work van, vanna white is her name, is barely hangin on. he's made the decision to buy a newer more fancy, less creepy/molesterish van. i came up with the genius idea to buy an ice cream truck, and turn it into his detailing vehicle. i feel strongly that the ice cream aspect of the truck should remain intact, as i'm sure customers would totally appreciate a cold treat along with their clean car on a hot summer day. i know i'd be calling him back to work on my car again, but then again i'm biased. i think he's ridiculously good looking, and i really like ice cream. in our search for the perfect nielsen mobile detailing ice cream truck sweet husband entertained my idea long enough for me to get it out of my system...bless his heart we came across this gem

a melting ice cream truck!! what clever humans we have surrounding us! well my dreams of owning an ice cream truck are long gone, but he did find the perfect van to buy and so i am glad for him.

i'm going to introduce a new addition to my blog. i call it "grandpa says the darndest things". greg's grandpa cracks us up on the daily with the things his brain comes up with as his memory continues to fail him. i feel like it would be a shame for some of these conversations to go unheard.

grandpa's sister-in-law, Kathy and her husband Bob were visiting a few weeks back. they arrived at grandpa's place and he immediately starts giving them a tour. they've been there before. he nods towards the backyard and turns to Bob with a pleased look on his face "how do ya like my lake?" as he points to the pool. Bob plays along not sure if he's joking or not and replies "that's great! got any fish in there?" grandpa's face turns to pure confusion as he looks at greg's mom and in all seriousness responds "no! i think they took them all out?!" Bob smiles "we're gonna have fun!"

grandpa: "so what have you been doing with your days?"

me: "oh, nothing too exciting, i usually just spend my days playing with Emmy" as i give her a little squeeze while she sits on my lap

grandpa: "oh that's just great! maybe you'll have some of your own one day!"

me: "....yeah" don't know how to respond...just leave it alone.

this one was just yesterday. a bunch of us were out by the pool or possibly by a lake in grandpa's head? uncle dennis and michelle were trying to get grandpa to try cheetos. they made the mistake of saying that they have cheese on them, which grandpa clearly isn't a fan of.

grandpa: "oh, i quit cheese when i was 3 years old. i worked in a cheese factory and that smell just put me off cheese for life." a 3 year old working in a cheese factory? something about that story didn't quite add up, but he did end up liking cheetos.

grandpa is amazed at babies these days. he says they are so advanced. back in his day, babies just sat in the corner and didn't do anything and now they walk, talk and eat and it's just great! if only he could tell the boys from the girls. emmy could be dressed in a pink dress with a bow the size of her head, and grandpa will comment on how fast he is growing up. and it is funny that he's consistently wrong. maybe he's playing with all of our heads to keep life interesting?

the other day dear grandpa pulled greg aside.

grandpa: "have you seen those dogs around here?"

greg: "no, there aren't any dogs grandpa. chris had one here for a few days, and sometimes matthew brings his over, but thats it."

grandpa: "no, they've got dogs here. i see them around. there's a white one..."

greg: "oh, you mean sweet bob???" (the cat)

grandpa: "yeah. that one. do you know how to get rid of it?"

i don't know if sweet bob is unusually large for a cat, or if grandpa was used to having smaller dogs in his life, but he just can't wrap his head around the fact that his new fluffy roommates are indeed cats. i'm not sure how much longer sweet bob will be gracing us with her presence?

we sure love sweet grandpa and i'm certain i'll have plenty more stories to share!