Strong elbows and Tiger Woods

I swear Miss. Maren, just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I haven't blogged much about her, and this blog is meant to be a journal of our family. So here are a few memorable out takes from the Maren Files.


Maren and Devin were grilling out in the backyard the other day, and I got this text, since I wasn't home.
Maren said, "Watch me dad, I am going to be bigger than Tiger Woods." Then swings her stick golf club, and misses the golf ball. 

She and I were talking about fruit while she was eating her Mac and Cheese. I have had high hope for her lately, because she has really started to brave up and try new foods. I mentioned something about cherries, and she exclaimed, "oh, I like cherries. I had one on my ice cream. Cherries make me have strong elbows. Does Mac and Cheese make you have strong elbows?"

Speaking of strong elbows, Devin told Maren that she was strong, after he had finished helping her do pull ups on his pull up bar. "Ya, and strong too" Which she is getting strong, and dang skinny. All of her clothes are too short on her.

She is still an avid fan of Lady Gaga, and sits in her room on her bean bag strumming her guitar to Poker face. If she would let me get a picture or video of her I would post it. But she promptly closes the door in my face. She likes to perform behind closed doors.

I have been horrible about taking pictures lately{why this post is sans pics} with the weather being hit or miss still. We keep getting little spurts of sunny spring days, then a snow or rain storm. Come on spring!

Little catch up on life.

Our Valentines day was celebrated quietly, in our comfy's{basically sweat pants}, lobster tails drenched in butter, and the very romantic movie Zombie Land. It was perfect! Devin for some crazy reason bought me an itouch. I have quite the track record of losing gifts from him, and because of this, I would NEVER had asked him for an one. So I better hold onto it for awhile.

The Valentine loot Maren come home with from preschool was pretty impressive. I had all intentions of helping her make sixteen cute little valentines, but I was out of steam by Thursday night; and resorted to grow your own flowers Valentines, and cherry tootsie pops, from Target. I bet 98% of those little seeds end up in the trash and not in a pot. Oh well. Maren could have cared less about the Valentines-it's all about the candy right? 

I am a WINNER! Me, me who never wins anything, won a photo contest!

First place!  Thanks to my little pink Samsung camera and Maren. She and I were eating lunch at an Indian restaurant where there was not only amazing food, but there was amazing light, a huge glass, and a goofy subject, and I just happened to have my camera in my purse. I am totally tickled, and can not wait for my prize. Adobe Lightroom, which is a photo editing program. 

 It just goes to show that it does not matter what type of camera you own. Ginny, the lady who's contest it was said,"It is all about seeing light and expression and composition!" 

But that doesn't mean a girl can't dream about a fabulous camera right? 

She Like's to Have Fun

For about the past three months we have been sharing our lives with a giant blue cat-dragon . No this is not another pet I brought home. This is Maren's imaginary friend Toodee. Toodee hails from Winter Iceland, and is one of the life sized characters on a hugely popular kids show called Yo Gabba Gabba.
I remember the day Maren introduced me to Toodee. I was sitting at the kitchen table.

Maren: Mom, Toodee is here.

Me: Toodee. Who is Toodee?

Maren: My imaginary friend.

Me: What does Toode look like?

Maren: She is blue.

Me: Do you mean Toodee from Yo Gabba Gabba the T.V. show?
Maren: Yes

She likes to have fun

In a way I was a bit relieved that this new found friend is really an imaginary friend and not a little spirit friend. I find imaginary friends to be a bit on the creepy side, which I am sure stems from my intrigue of shows like Paranormal State, Hauntings. I am not sure why Toodee captured Maren's attention, she watches the show, but never asks to watch it like she does with the ever annoying Sponge Bob Square Pants. If it is on, it is on. I enjoy watching though to see what celebrities and bands are going to make a guest appearance. Jack Black, the Ting Tings, Elijah Wood, Andy Samberg, Tony Hawk, and the Roots have made an appearance on this whacked out show.

Toodee goes to dinner with us, preschool, the library, to st. George. I had to do Toodees hair the other morning before preschool-I just threw it back in a quick ponytail and called it good. Sometimes she takes showers with Maren, or we have make her dinner. There have been many times I have thrown things on the seat next to Maren in the car, and hear, "Hey, you just threw that on Toodee." "No, I asked Toodee to hold it for me."

I haven't heard much from Toodee in the past couple weeks. So when I asked Maren where Toodee has been, she told me that she has had the flu and has been at home with her mom.

Maren is a creative little thing and it is fun to see how she role plays with Toodee, or with her imaginary horses when she is playing cowgirl. But really, we do need to get a sibling here for her. A real live human to play with!

Maren's Preschool Christmas Program

Maren's first preschool performance was quite the show. Literally she stole the show! I have no idea where this performer came from because Devin and I would rather die a thousand deaths than perform. She waved and smiled the entire time! It had us laughing so hard! They put a plastic the Snowman in the middle of the floor and had each of the kids take turns skipping around it with the pageant wave continued the entire way around. A bit later they laid giant candy canes down and had the kids skip over those. Pageant wave and smile the entire way down and back. It was hysterical!

I spent almost the entire time trying to figure out how to get a decent damn picture out of my camera! Luckily I have it on video. Hopefully I wont record over it like I did her dance performance.

I jokingly told her I was going to put her in pageants and make her wear fake teeth{flips} and get a fake tan. This made her mad. This was a week ago, and everyday since she has said something to me about not putting her in pageants. When I finally said, what do you know about pageants, she said, "You not talk about it anymore. Just keep it to yourself!" Well ok then. Looks like I wont be investing in flips, fake tans, and hair extensions in her near future.

Drama Queen

Did Y'all Miss Me?

Early Christmas gift=me back in the blogging world!! I now have a laptop who's USB ports work, so now I can post pictures.

Lets do a little catch up, shall we? Sad I have not been able to post any pictures of our house since we moved in this past June. To honest, you aren't missing much.

Owning a house comes with a learning curve for sure. We got a great deal on this little house built in 1978, which sat vacant for two years before we purchased it. It was flipped, but in a half assed way, so don't look too close.

All in all, we are just so thankful to have a little place to call our own.

For me, having a place of my own has made it more fun to decorate for the holidays. Last year while living at the motel apartment, I was a scrooge and didn't decorate at all.

Last year I kept my Christmas cards up all year

Sometimes I feel like I have a set of twins on my hands because this little one has a few different personalities and can flip them at the drop of a hat!
Tonight she was Miss. Model telling me to take her picture

She realized after I took this that she had left her toothbrush in,
so she told me to take another one

Yes, that is a Halloween shirt she is wearing for P.J. 's.
I am doing a bunch of laundry tonight