BYE BYE BINKIE

November 10, 2010

At the beginning of November (November 10th, to be exact), I was sitting next to Tanner, watching him pop his binkie in his mouth, and I suddenly had the urge to just rid us of the "bink-a-bink" once and for all.

I came up with a plan on the fly . . . I pulled out some paper and folded it into an envelope and had Tanner help me staple the sides closed. Then, I asked him what animal he wanted me to draw on the envelope. He chose a bunny . . . which quickly turned into the "Binkie Bunny." So, I drew a binkie next to the bunny and told Tanner to hurry and gather up all his binkies and put them in the envelope. He got excited gathering the binkies and loading them into the envelope he had just made.

I then explained to Tanner that the Binkie Bunny was very very tired and needed some help sleeping and that we needed to send Tanner's binkies so the Binkie bunny could get some sleep. Just before we closed the envelope, I had Tanner sing a song into the envelope - he chose the ABC song - and we closed the envelope up very fast to catch the song, so the Binkie Bunny could have a song and some binkies so he could go to sleep.

Tanner helped me "mail" the envelope to the Binkie Bunny, under the impression that the Bunny was going to send him a present as a "thank you" for the binkies.

Tanner went to bed that night . . . without a binkie . . . and without a fuss! I just laid him down and explained how happy the Binkie Bunny was because he had gotten Tanner's Binkie's and his song. Then I told Tanner that he had to hurry up and fall asleep so he could get his present from the Binkie Bunny in the morning.

The next day, when Matt left for work, I had him set Tanner's present outside our front door and ring the doorbell. Tanner was so excited when he heard the doorbell ring and I told him it was the Binkie Bunny leaving him a present. We opened the door and there was a new rolling toolbox sitting outside the door. Inside the toolbox was and envelope from the Binkie Bunny--it had two suckers in it and a note from the Bunny.

Tanner has been Binkie-free for three whole months now and the only time he talks about his binkie is when he mentions the Bunny who gave him a toolbox and a lollipop and who has his "bink-a-bink" to "help him go night-night."

Halloween Festivities

October 31, 2010

The managing partner at Matt's law firm throws the greatest parties and we were so excited that he was hosting a Halloween 2010 Party. We had a tough time coming up with a couples costume, so we just both picked a theme and ran with it.

Matt went as ... well, do I really even need to explain his costume??!

Actually, yes, yes, I do. The costume actually requires much explanation . . . A few days before our party, I finally convinced Matt to come with me to go Halloween costume shopping (he's not one for dressing up, and isn't a big fan of Halloween either).

I dragged Matt's miserable self around a giant costume warehouse and he was not feelin' any of my great ideas... until I spotted the Hulk Hogan wig/bandana/moustache number. Matt cheered right up.

The day of the party, to complete the ensemble (and all without any prompting from me) Matt shaved his arms and legs, then doused himself with the orangest fake tanner he could find, donned a muscle shirt, and threw in a WWE championship belt courtesy of Target's kids section.

He even looked up Hulk's signature poses and phrases. Pretty authentic, no?!

This is Hulk's victory pose after winning the prize for best costume.

I went as Cher and loved rockin' my whole crazy ensemble.

(if you ask me, this looks like a guy who's having fun dressing up!! ;)

The evening was full of great costumes, good company, delicious food, and lots and lots of candy . . .

And what Halloween party would be complete without a GIANT Chucky pinata!?

Texas with the boys

October 14-18, 2010

Back in October, Matt and his brothers met up in Texas to go to the BYU vs. TCU game. We have started making it a tradition to go to one away BYU game a year. We went to Texas the year before and had a great time watching BYU beat Oklahoma at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. BYU was not quite as successful this time around, losing to TCU 31 to 3.

The boys packed in a bunch of fun on their vacation together. They went to the Yankees vs. Rangers game at the Rangers stadium. Matt is a huge Yankees fan and that was actually the first Yankees game he'd ever been to.

The Vandermyde boys managed to get a lot of sports in: they played whirly ball (basically lacrosse played in bumper cars).

Played golf at Tour 18.

(The course was designed by replicating 18 of the most popular holes on The Tour).

They also went to the ESPN Broadcasting Center and the US Mint in Fort Worth.

The Vandermyde brothers always have a great time when they get together.

Thanks Adam and Michelle for hosting the crew!!

Happy Wedding Mary!!

October 9, 2010

My cousin Mary got married this past October to a great guy, Steed Nelson. I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Utah for the wedding--thanks to my other cousin Tresa's willingness to play mommy for a day and help me brave the airplane ride with my two kiddos.

Kaden did great. Pretty much slept the whole way. And Tanner was a happy little camper until we had to leave the airplane upon arriving in Utah. He flipped out and had a meltdown right in the middle of the exit ramp. It was awesome. So glad I had Tresa there to help me.

The wedding was absolutely beautiful (wish I had taken more pics!!). It was so fun to hang out with all my cousins. I have the best cousins ever--we all have so much fun together.

Tanner had a wonderful time getting in as many pictures as he could, he loves Mary and Steed and wanted to be near them the whole time. He kept yelling their names, trying to distract them as they posed for their pics.

And Kaden kept himself busy melting everyone's hearts. What a cutie.

We had a great time at the wedding, celebrating with the happy couple...

Congrats Cuz!!

LABOR DAY FLIGHT TO CATALINA

Matt and his coworker Jason have been trying to find time to do a flight together (with me and Jason's wife Judy too, of course), and planned a Labor Day trip to Catalina Island.

The fog rolled in Monday morning and we were worried that our flight plans were foiled. We waited it out over a delicious breakfast by the airport and sure enough, the skies cleared out a perfect channel for us between L.A. and Catalina. There was still a blanket of clouds on either side of the channel which made the flight all the more beautiful.

I always feel pretty cool wearing the headsets when we fly and I was happy that Judy was as excited about the gear as I usually am. She looks pretty "legit", no?

Here are our Captain and Co-pilot.

Before our trip, Matt had mentioned that he wanted to do a little snorkeling in Catalina. So, me being the conscientious traveler that I am, I called ahead and found out the best place to snorkel and rent our gear ... and, of course, scoured the web regarding shark attacks in the area. Turns out I wasn't the only one in our group who worried about what was lurking along the Catalina coastline. ;)

After sufficiently freaking myself out about sharks in general, I put my fears to rest upon discovering that the most recent--and only recorded--shark "attack" at Catalina wasn't an attack at all - and was all the way back in 2008. A woman actually landed on top of a shark after being knocked out of her kayak by the curious sea predator. And that was the extent of the "attack."

In the end-thankfully-the only wildlife we ran into (i.e. drove safely past) on the island was this big guy:

Judy and I were both a little more keen on spending the day relaxing in the sunshine rather than flipping along in cold ocean water. But after one look from this guy, we decided we'd better get with the program and hit the waters.

Despite the icy ocean water, my very non-thermal oversized rental wetsuit, and the attack of the kelp forest, we all had a lot of fun snorkeling.

Don't worry that I was so mesmerized by the first fish I saw that I missed the octopus Matt was trying to point out to me. And don't worry that I saw about a million more of that same fish and not one eight-armed sea creature. Bummer!

After our snorkeling adventure, we randomly ran into our good friend Ethan and his girlfriend Kim. We all had a delicious dinner together before rushing back to our airport shuttle bus...but not before snagging some delicious ice cream to end our perfect Catalina daycation.

THANKS FOR FLYING WITH US JASON & JUDY!

WE HAD A BLAST WITH YOU GUYS!!

Grandma T and Grandpa Steve

September 16-22, 2010

My parents came to town for Tanner's Birthday in September, and we had a blast with them here.

Grandpa Steve surprised Tanner with the coolest birthday gift. He made him two little Adirondack chairs (one for Tanner, one for Kaden). The chairs were wrapped unassembled and Grandpa had made a little tool box filled with little tools so Tanner could help assemble the chairs.

Tanner had the most focused look the whole time he was building the chairs with Grandpa.

The chairs turned out super adorable. Tanner and Kaden loved them.

Tanner was excited to show grandma and grandpa a few of his favorite LA hot spots.

We took them to the Science Center

The Grove

And the Marina.

We had a great time. Thanks for visiting us Grandma and Grandpa!!