Emily's first teeth: the exodus

EMILY GOT HER FIRST TEETH THAT SHE HAD AS A BABY OUT AND IT'S SO ADORABLE YET SAD AT THE SAME TIME I JUST WANNA SQUEEZE HER SO SHE WONT GROW UP ANYMORE.

*ahem* I apologize. I lost my cool there.

As was previously stated, yesterday Emily went to the dentist to get her teeth taken out. She was a little worried about it but the dentist was so amazing and knew how to make her excited about it. I'm not gonna lie, I have a deeply rooted fear of the dentist. Whenever I smell the air in the room where they work on you, I get chills. Not the "aww this is beautiful" kind; the "HOLY CRAP TEARS HAVE BEEN SHED HERE" kind.

First, as i'm sure you all know but i'm typing it here for posterity, Emily had her gum line and her lip numbed. During the process, they gave her a syringe of something. While they were doing that, Kirsten kept turning to me, looking grim and like she was about to pass out. Being the strong, capable man I am, I leaped out of the chair I was on and whispered that it was ok. I also became nauseated and nodded at her.

Emily with her laughing

gas

While she was getting her laughing gas, she became hilarious to listen to. Here are two examples of things she was saying (she was screaming a lot of it):

"I CAN NAME TWO TOOTHED CAUSE THERE'S A LOT OF THEM!"

"WE HAVE THREE DOGS THEY KEPT ME UP AT NIGHT!"

When all was said and done, her two teeth "wiggled" out and afterwards she said "I don't wanna do this anymore" to which the dentist said "that's fine because we're all done!" She was very happy about the "all done" part. Emily was so incredibly brave and I am so proud of her. I was terrified it was going to be a nightmare keeping her still, but she just sat back and enjoyed it (as much as it could be enjoyed). Emily keeps surprising us in that way, when we think she will do what a normal kid does, she does the exact opposite. She was even trying to help the dentists with whatever she could help with.

We have an amazing child.

When Emily went to sleep, me and kirsten snuck into her room and took her baby teeth, exchanging it for real dollars as is the custom. Marveling at what these two teeth have been through, a small tear made its way down my cheek.

My baby is growing up.

Geocaching

At this very moment Emily and I are going Geocaching and she found it before I did. It's getting dark and I asked her how she could see it and she answered "my eyes are really strong I can see in the night."

Also: we have codenames in case anyone stops us; she's blumpkin and I'm blookey. GEOCACHING OUTLAWS.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:University Dr,Richland,United States

This is, like, another blog post, like, for today.

This is to let everybody know that we're still alive and blogging. Also: today is the day we ran out coffee, and I have a terrible caffeine headache. This also happens to be the day Emily picks up saying "like" every other word.

Could these two be related?
Stay classy.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Fall-ing...

It's turning fall around the edges here... Little hints of color along the highway when I drive Emily to school in the morning, The scent of burning leaves and cool air. Pulling out sweaters not seen since March, trying them on for size. We have the guys coming to inspect and clean the fireplaces on the 27th, and I cannot tell you how excited this makes me.

I'm always telling everyone who'll listen (usually my husband) that fall is, by far, my favorite season. I seem to be the only one in my family with this sentiment, as I usually get strange looks when I say this around my step mom, dad, and/or sisters. But, honestly, I loathe the hot weather, and I'm not a huge fan of weeks (or even days) of sunshine. I need some variation in my weather forecast, and that's where Fall fits the bill. You've got nice cool sunny days to enjoy the crisp air and fall colors, and you have crummy, rainy days to enjoy by curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. I also love the colors of fall, and I ESPECIALLY love the foods. In case you haven't noticed, I am a total foodie. I get excited over hard anodized cookware and elegant white serving dishes. So I love it when I can start making yummy rich fall soups and stews, homemade breads, and pumpkin muffins. Comfort food. I am all about comfort food. Just ask my thighs 

So today, in a fit of domesticity, I decided to make banana walnut muffins. Mostly because I had three bananas moldering in our fruit basket, but also because it just sounded so wholesome and delicious to me. Ok, oven preheated, flour, baking powder, sugar, milk, oil, banana, walnut, milk, egg... egg? No egg. Sweet. It was literally the last thing on the ingredient list, and the only thing I didn't have on hand. That'll teach me to bake unplanned in the future. 

This year, for the first time in my adult life, I am going to host Thanksgiving dinner at my house. This is the first year Daniel and I have had a house large enough to fit everyone comfortably, and a (matching) dining table to sit around. I've already started planning, and let me tell you, after so many years of dreaming of hosting my own Thanksgiving dinner, I am going to go fully Martha Stewart all over this holiday. There will be matching cloth napkins, handmade acorn placards, and whole apples and figs and whatnot surrounding a gargantuan, glistening, golden-brown turkey. 

Probably. 

Hiatus

So we've had a pretty long hiatus recently 'round these parts.. Because A. we've been really busy, and B. we've had an Internet crisis and have been without for oh, about two and a half weeks now. I'm actually writing this on my iPhone, which I can tell you, is the very definition of tedious. But I just can't make our loyal readers wait any longer for updates. So here goes:

Emily has learned many invaluable lessons from school, including (but not limited to) how to more legibly write her name, the absolute necessity of zhu zhu pets for the completion of one's life, and how to swing all on her own. Honestly though, she's such a bright, sweet kid that this whole school thing has been almost effortless, and the biggest stress has been remembering which colors and/or shapes correspond to which weeks and figuring out what to do with the reams of completed work she brings home.

Dan has been really enjoying his new golf obsession, and sharing in the madness with my dad and brother in law. They're all getting pretty good, and I'm contemplating getting Dan a matching plaid knickers/ vest/ cap set for Christmas.

Me: I've been really loving school and enjoying he heck out of work. I've been placed with an AWESOME freshman English class, with a really fun, young teacher. She has told me time and again how she already doesn't know what she'd do without me, so of course it's awesome to be needed, and to feel like such an integral part of the classroom. Every day I am reassured that this is indeed what I want to do with my career, and that I am going to love every moment of it.

So now you're pretty much caught up. And in case you were wondering if perhaps we were called away unexpectedly to France for business or something.. Well no. Not yet anyway.

First Day

So the past week has been a big one for us: it has been a time of talking, planning and buying for the very special event of Emily's first day of Kindergarten. We went clothes shopping, I spent a ridiculously long time searching frantically online for an adorable backpack that I saw in a magazine and felt that Emily simply had to have, and attended an orientation geared much more towards nervous parents than the kids.

So this morning I actually had to go in and wake Emily up at 7 (if any of you actually know our daughter, you will understand the irony of this), helped her put on her clothes she had picked out, and fed her breakfast. Then after the traditional first-school-day-picture-in-front-of-the-door (my sister and I have picture proof of our terrible fashion choices for almost our entire school careers), we hopped in the car and headed to Richland. Traffic was crazy and we ended up getting there after most of the kids had already gone into the classroom. It was still absolute pandemonium. It made me really pity the teachers and administrators, and question whether this is really the profession I want to be in. :)

We took her into her classroom, dropped off the last of her supplies, and reluctantly let her go when she pried us off of her. (Kidding. Kind of.) She sat down at her desk and started getting out her school supplies, while we slipped out the door. We looked at each other , sniffled a bit, and walked hand in hand back to our cars amidst other shellshocked parents and frazzled administrators.

Our baby. In Kindergarten. It's still unbelievable.

Retrospecticus

So, I always try to write about me, Kirsten, and Emily's life in a way that's entertaining and comedic. And, to the 5-6 people who've read this blog and have been following it, I give my deepest thanks. Nothing means more to me than knowing that people I care about, and in some cases I've never met before, follow so closely to the happenings of my family.

On that note, I want to talk a little bit about my wife.

Kirsten and I have had a lot of stress in our lives. I'm not belittling anybody else's stresses, but we've been through stuff that really, really tested our fortitude. I've done and said things that I am not proud of, and will probably regret for the rest of my life. One day, after a particularly grueling few months, when I looked over her shoulder, I found that she had made a blog. In fact, this very one. She started it when I moved to my parents house to start a new job in Kennewick while we find a place to live.

She never told me this blog existed.

I took a moment and read all the entries she had written while I was gone and I made the most obvious revelation in my life; Kirsten has the biggest heart of any person I know. I want the whole world to know how incredibly fortunate I am that the good Lord saw fit to give me the finest of His creations. Not only did He give me her, but He instilled upon her the patience to stick with me until I came to my senses.

Now don't get me wrong, she still:
- Begs me for a golden retriever every time she even thinks about one.

- Leaves drinks half finished. Everywhere.

- Brings home dogs she wanted to save (it happened once, but would've happened more if I wasn't there).

- Etc. Even I know when to quit lists

But, Kirsten is pretty damn near perfect in every way. And as long as I live, I will treat her like the queen she is. I promise. I swear. Hugo Weaving.

Well, tonight we are going to make rice crispy squares. I pretty much demanded it. I don't think I've ever made it, and I'm sure it's not that hard to make. But the delicious amalgam of marshmallow and rice crispies demands my attention.

Get Moving! The Musical

Imagine, if you will. A slow crescendo . Violins, surrounding you with their infectious melody that leave you gasping for air. Sweet, tasty air. Thus, moving day has swarmed upon us. The day of the damned.

Over the course of the month, we have been moving things from the apartment to the house. Everyday (or so...) I would finish work and head over to the apartment to pick up a few things. And that was the song and dance of the month. In the end, we rented a Uhaul to end this monster, once and for all. Boy, we have a lot of crap.

We purchased the smallest moving truck, believing after all we've moved that we have only a few items there. Yeah, the closets weren't done. Emily's room was half full (i'm an optimist!). There. Was. Stuff. Everywhere. I swear, things I thought I had already taken were there. It's almost as if the landlords, upset about our departure, broke into our house and stole the stuff we moved and put it back into our apartment. Like how the Grinch stole Christmas. But with landlords.

It ended up being two trips before we got everything in. I put together a few stats from the moving day:

- Times traveled up three flights of stairs: 108
- Times purposely moved in front of Kirsten to keep her from doing something: 1,028

- Times it looked like Kirsten was going to punch me: 134.5

- Number of bags moved: 30

- Number of boxes: 20

- Number of items I tried to convince Kirsten we didn't need: 300

- Number of items I had to pack because we "needed it": 299

- Percentage of stats that have been made up: 99% (one of these stats is true, try and guess which one!)

In the end, we were both happy it was done. Everything is now here, and not somewhere else. We came home, ordered pizza, filled our cups with root beer, and celebrated a successful move. Hugo Weaving is awesome, by the way. I'm only mentioning him because I think it's hilarious that there's a tag on our site for him.

Cheers, fellow readers. May your dreams take flight. I have to go walk the dogs.

The large CDN/ROF post (AKA the one you probably wont read)

Hello.

What?

Why yes, I know it's been a while. No, you're lazy.

Listen. Let's put aside our differences and focus on the post. For the betterment of mankind.

So, for the rabid reader that wants to get down to the very essence of what this post will be, both events were fun. There was a ton of work to do, but everybody knew what to do and we handled everything very well.

Cool Desert Nights was awesome. The few things that stood out in my mind was how cool everybody was at the event. They were more than willing to help me out when I didn't get something, and I have to say, I have the coolest boss.

Just a small fraction of the cars there.

There were hardly any incidents to speak of. Besides the almost abduction. So get this, there's a little red headed girl wandering around by herself, and someone grabs her and almost takes her. Why is this girl by herself? Both of these events really opened my eyes about people not keeping an eye on their kids, but i'll rant about that later. I promise.

The only thing I can really add about Cool Desert Nights is damn. Damn. Like 14 hours of work one day, just essentially standing and heavy lifting all day. I had 5 blisters on one foot and 2 on the other. I command our readership to feel bad for me. Yes, all 2 of you. But my boss, Dan, is the freakin' terminator. Everywhere I went, he was doing something. That dude is tough to keep up with.

River of Fire was a much easier event. Plus, I got to witness easily the best part of the day; Kirsten standing near a clown.

An epic picture of epic epicness

She has very much expressed her fear in clowns to me. In fact, when I knew a clown would be at the fair, I started my campaign. The get-kirsten-near-a-clown campaign. It was a grueling campaign, filled with "You need to face your fears" and "But think of Emily." In the end, she retained a strict amount of space from said clown. By the way, his name is BigTop, he's awesome, and he was trained by his clown mentor (clowntor?) Little Frosty. True Story.

Man, Emily was so bored during River of Fire. However, she did get to wear her pajamas. With Sandals.

Enjoy the Golf Cart. What? Oh I've been working all day. I'm fine standing, really.

OH. Ok rant time. There were 5-7 kids who could not find their parents. WHAT IS GOING ON? At one point, a 10-11 year old kid comes up to me and we had this conversation:
"How's it going?"
"Not so good. I lost my cousin."
"What does he look like?"
"He's this tall" [about 2-3ft] "And he's wearing a white shirt with a swimmer diaper."

"Oh. Where are your parents?"
"They're back at the park, they said my cousin was my responsibility."

Man, a lot of people today just don't care about their kids. It was such an eye opening experience. Not only that, but this kid came up to me instead of the parents. COME ON. But hey, it was just their nephew so they didn't feel responsible. Oh, and we found all the kids' parents. I think.

So, onto some updates about the Sierra family.

We're moving into my parent's old house. We were extremely fortunate that my parents offered for us to stay there. We hope to save some money and this is the best way to do it. Staying in my parent's room is such an odd experience. As a kid, it was always this foreign room that I respected as...well... my parent's room. Like a sacred room of sorts. And now staying in it, i feel...weird. But man, is the view out the window lovely.

I've had a few people come up to me and say they've been reading this blog. I have to say, I'm really excited! It's fascinating to me that people would take the time out of their busy, busy day and read updates on our lives. I am so, so grateful for all of you that read this. **shameless plug** by the way, if you like what you read, follow us! Or comment, so other people can realize that this isn't a blog equivalent of a ghost town. **shameless plug over**

I think that's it. I promised a lot of pictures, and I have them. But I'm so laaaazy. Maybe, maybe if somebody comments on it asking for them I'll post them.

You hear me? ball's in your court.

PS: I've just changed the settings so that you don't have to have any particular ID or even sign in to be able to comment on the blog... so there's a little dangling carrot for all your blog trolls... -Mrs Hoot

"Urine" a lot of trouble...

Yeah, we haven't posted in a while, I've had a big event come up that I was helping called "Cool Desert Nights." I'll have a big post later with pictures and what happened during it, with such exciting moments as:

1. The time a little girl was almost abducted
2. The golf cart accident
3. The drunken fight
   
   
   And more! I'll also include pictures and experiences from the other upcoming July 4th event. So expect that mega post within the next week. But for now, sit, dear friend, as we experience life.

So, today at your local Carl's Jr we had an accident of epic proportions. Emily was playing with a little kid in that rocket you see. His parents were calling him down and he kept saying no. The reason?

He went pee in the rocket

After much coaxing, the kid finally came down, pee dripping everywhere, and they left. At this point, me and Kirsten were thinking "oh man, that was weird." We did not know the extent of the leaky problem.

"Emily honey come down."

"I can't, I'm stuck."

"Is there potty there?"

"Yes"

So, Emily is stuck in a rocket. In a child's play toy. I'm thinking this is what the apollo 13 astronauts must feel like. Kirsten had to climb in there, risking exposure to tiny kid wee, and hang out with Emily while I went and got somebody to put some stuff down so we can get Emily out.

Oh, and I had to find time to snap a picture. Such is the burden of a father.

Also, the kid and his parent left immediately and drove off, without asking if we needed help.

Thanks.

Field Trippin'

Today I had the pleasure of going on a field trip with Emily and her preschool class. We went to the Three Rivers Children's Museum, the same one where we had Emily's birthday party. It was really great to finally put faces to the names Emily has been mentioning for months, and to watch her interact with her peers and play and learn. She is such a sweet girl, and so kind and giving with her classmates. I am so very proud of her.

After getting off work at 5:30, I went and picked her up from school for some Mommy/Emily time. Daniel went to go see The A Team with his dad and brother, so it was just us girls, left to fend for ourselves. We decided we wanted Italian, and ended up having a delicious dinner at Mi Casa in Richland. Emily had a huge plate of salad, a roll and half of a large dish of Manicotti. I had a calzone the size of Alaska, and we both had delicious glasses of Limonata, a fizzy Italian super-lemonade.

All in all it was a wonderful day, and Daniel really enjoyed the A-Team, and spending time with his brother and dad.

Now excuse me while I go work off those 1300 calories I consumed for dinner.

You're not my Amigo, friend.

My baby. Kirsten was driving my car and was waiting to turn when a taxi cab gave her a love bump. The kind of love that hurts. The car ended up getting a few scratches and we're in the process of getting everything settled. Oh, Kirsten and Emily are fine... should I have mentioned that before?

But my car isn't fine, people.

The taxi driver was from a company called Amigo Taxi. I'm wondering whether or not the fender bump was supposed to be a friendly car-to-car high five. You're not my Amigo, Friend.

My parents have come down to visit for a few weeks. I've been really excited to see them, and now that they're here, we're going to spend as much time as we can with them. They want to clean up the house and get it ready to sell, so I want to help them as much as possible with fixing it. I was walking through the house when we moved Kathy and Kevin out. Man, there was such good, good memories growing up there. I'm going to be really sad to see it go.

There's no real changes on the Emily front, besides she's ravenous to get into the pool. Perhaps in another life she was a fish, but everyday when I get home she'll stare out the window at the weather.
"You know what, daddy?"
"What, Emmy?"
"Today's a good day to go to the pool."
"Yes, just like yesterday, huh Emmy? And the day before... and the day before."

There was a moment when we were heading down the stairs where Emily resembled some sort of Pool Shaman. Her little rabbit towel that hung over her head looked like an animal skin cape and her little water noodle eerily resembled a staff.

Our little Pool Shaman

Well, that's all for now.

So long, and thanks for all the fish

The one about fish

Look at this picture. Look at it. What do you think she's thinking of? Why, her charming husband, of course!

This last few weeks we've been focusing more on the consumption of fish. I'm not a fan. Me and fish, we don't hang. Our high schools were rivals, and I'll always have a place in my heart for Ms. Hamburger (That sexy rascal). But, I think me and fish found a common ground; tilapia. For some reason tilapia really won me over. Emily too. In fact, she didn't like fish before (she tells us when she was at the ripe old age of 4, she didn't like it), now she's scarfing it down. In all honesty, how many kids will try something they know they didn't like before?

My daughter rocks.

Here she is, searching for fish

She's been sleeping a little better at night, which is a relief for both of us.

Kirsten and I took Emily swimming yesterday, and Kirsten met somebody who wants to offer her a job. It is true about what they say, when one door closes another opens. The Lord has truly blessed us with another opportunity.

As for my job, I'm loving every second of it. Work is slowly picking up. If it were a symphony, it would be leading to a marvelous crescendo as the two events we've been planning come to a magnificent end. It's stressful, but the good kind. Yes, there's a good kind.

It also helps that I get to come home to a beautiful family.

Lil' Hoot Updates

Our daughter Emily (otherwise known as our 'lil hoot') had a fantastic week, so I thought it would be a good time to share it with our ravenous readers.

This week, she won an award for being kind and respectful to the other kids in her class. We're both so very proud of her!

Back when she was attending preschool in Walla Walla, she used to always win these best behavior awards. I'm glad that the teacher who's teaching her class, Ms. Ashley, is rewarding the kids for goo behavior; Emily loves getting little rewards like that. In fact, the day I picked her up, I picked up the award and asked Emily if the reward was hers, and she got very excited and started telling me how she won the award (from what I could gather from her run-together sentences and the award, buckets and filling were involved).

Now, tonight, she sang us a little song they sing in class. It was so adorable, we decided to film it and post it. So, not only has she won the best behavior award, but she's well on her way to becoming a world singing sensation.

She's still having trouble sleeping, which we both believe is a mix of the light and, well, all her energy. She is five after all. If you have any ideas we could try to get her more comfortable with sleeping, go ahead and leave a comment!

Well, I think it's time for me and Mrs. Hoot to watch the Wolfman. I heard the reviews weren't very good but Hugo "I was in the Matrix and Lord of the Rings" Weaving is in it, so I assume it will be stellar.

New Header and Other Things

My fantastic husband has been working tirelessly on our new header, and I think the results speak for themselves. It looks wonderful, and we each chose our own owl colors, so it's very "us."

Today Emily and I went to the new Farmer's Market with Krista, Flynn and Laynie. It's still pretty small, but I'm chalking it up to crappy weather and the beginning of the season. I'm hoping as the weather warms there will be more vendors, but even if there aren't, there were some wonderful local produce stands and I would be perfectly happy buying my weekly fruits and veggies from them. Today I bought some delicious asparagus which I sauteed with olive oil, garlic, and a bit of lemon, as well as some tiny, sweet little strawberries and some sun dried tomato/ basil bread. Needless to say, dinner was awesome.

Know Thy Enemy

Come forth, dear readers. Let me entice you with a tale. An epic tale. Surely, I know no other tales to provide.

I have an enemy. He haunts our house. He probably eats our food when we're asleep. He is, to put it gently, a leather bound MONSTROSITY.

Ladies and gentlemen, lock up your kids. I only post the picture of this heinous creature in the hope that you will avoid its venom-spewing maw.

YOU CANNOT UNSEE IT.

My wife was given this lovely abomination for a christmas gift. And now, even as I type, the beast has its claws dug deep into her. I am fairly certain that one day in the near future me and the kindle will be hanging on for dear life over a crevice and my wife will sit in quiet contemplation over who to save. Pray. Pray dear friends that it is me.

Quarter Century

This weekend was my wife's 25th birthday, and what a fantastic week it has been. We went to Hood River and spent a few nights at the in-law's place. It was the first time we've ever been there and it was a fascinating house. I'm fairly sure it was haunted though.

Sunday, we came home (much to my daughter's chagrin) and went to the Goo Goo Dolls in concert. Watching Kirsten getting excited as they played her favorite songs was the highlight of this month, perhaps even this year. The way her eyes sparkle... the way she sings along (slightly off key).

And to top it all off, a good ol' fashioned BBQ with some good friends.

Now, it's time for me to break out the 360, video games are a'callin.