Voyages in Parenthood

...don't inspire for good pictures. That and a very busy two days of work make me cranky and not interested in blogging. So, no picture taken today... Instead, have I told you how much my kid loves sushi? And not that fake sushi roll stuff her mother eats either...nope, she likes the real stuff. On our way home from Grandpa's house a few weeks back, we stopped at our local Wegman's to see what we could find for dinner. They actually have a sushi bar there...a real working sushi bar with real sushi chefs who will make it while you wait! So we stopped there and Leda pointed out what she wanted...salmon sushi - you know, with the big piece of salmon lying on the pod of rice? Yep, and a salmon roll along with it. That's what she wanted. So we got that home and she dug in...except she really didn't care to eat the rice along with the salmon, just the salmon. Yes, she is her father's daughter!

With Brock off playing with race cars this weekend, it was just me and Leda. We had a few things planned for the weekend, to keep us busy. First off was getting dinner on Friday night and since I had to work on Friday and didn't feel like figuring out what to have for dinner, we headed off for dinner at McDonald's. Yes, bad mother that I am, I fed the kid fast food! Good thing it's always treated as a special treat and doesn't happen very often! We got home and made popcorn and sat down to watch Where the Wild Things Are . We were really looking forward to seeing this movie as it is one of Leda's favorite books. It wasn't a bad movie, just depressing. Not as uplifting as I hoped. And both of us were in tears by the end. It is hard to comfort your kid when you are crying as well! [Spoiler ahead] I tried to explain to Leda, who was almost as uncontrollably upset as she was when she watched Marley with us, that it was a happy ending, that Max got to go home to his

These are my office mates: I love the laughing Buddha. He makes me happy. I have these two sitting on my desk, just next to my computer. I think I was hoping they would make me happy while I am trying to fix some customer issues....sometimes it works, other times, not so much! ;-) I have two other Buddhas sharing my office, big enough that they can't fit on my desk. I would love more. Like I said, they make me happy. And who doesn't wanna be happy on a Friday! Awesome!

Day three of the take-a-picture-every-day and I've already Failed! Due to work, I haven't had a chance to take a picture yet today. Oh well. Best intentions. I could take a photo of my office, but I'd rather not see that picture, I spend enough time in my office! So, instead, how about a picture of a recent visitor we had in our yard. This lady came for a visit the day before we got hit with our first 18 inches or so of snow in February. She was just sitting in the tree outside my office window so I grabbed the camera and went outside to grab a few photos. There were some nasty crows hounding her, they finally scared her off. I am pretty sure she's been hanging around our neck of the woods for a few months, maybe even a year now. We catch sight of hawks every once in awhile, but you hear them more often than see them! She was a beauty.

Today is picture day at school. Hopefully she smiles for the photographer. Because she was not smiling for me this morning. She's wearing her Easter outfit for the picture. It's the dress she picked out all on her own. I wanted her to wear something else, a little more colorful than white and pink, but the skirt I bought her to wear is too big! I couldn't win! Had to let her wear the Easter outfit. She was thrilled (even though the look on her face doesn't portray that!)

I'm having a bit of writer's block. Bear with me! I downloaded a bunch of photos from my camera and realized that I hadn't done that in over a month! Also, I didn't take any photos in January! I've been bad about taking photos in the past year. I'm not sure why. I've tried to make a resolution (not for new years, just an every day resolution) to take a picture a day (at least) in the past and wasn't really good at keeping it! I'm renewing that today. I think I am trying to get myself out of the winter funk that I tend to get into just about every winter...the weather is getting warmer, the sun is getting brighter (when it is out). I'm going to do my part to try and come out of hibernation and rejoin the world. I'll try to do that with words, but if words fail, hopefully a picture will do. And maybe that will get me updating the blog more regularly and taking more pictures! So, Picture of the Day: Leda!

Leda is very into spelling things out on paper...she will ask you to spell something and she will write it out on paper. Salt Watch Robot Wood Metal Family Mommy Daddy She will ask for the names of her friends, her cousins, her family members. We oblige either by spelling it out or writing it down on post-its. She has drawn pictures and then wrote out 'Happy Birthday' or 'I love the family' or a description of the picture. She will write out things she sees on books, cereal boxes, TV. She started doing this about three or so weeks ago. She can't seem to get enough words. She's gotten to the point where she knows some words now, she doesn't need to ask us to spell them. Tonight, she made a 'magazine' that she is going to give to her Grandpa. Makes me wonder, with writers and magazine editors in her family, is this a sign of what she will become? She loves to tell stories with pictures and words. It's amazing.

Attending the Olympics is on my Bucket List. In fact, I would say it is at the very top. I would LOVE to go to an Olympic event (or two or three or as many as I can get tickets for!) I would LOVE to attend an Opening or Closing Ceremony. Part of me would be perfectly happy if I could just go to a city that is holding an Olympics and just hang out! Leda watched the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics with us last month - she fell asleep half way through but she put in a good effort. Since most of the events were after her bedtime, she didn't really watch much the rest of the two weeks, except some highlights with me or on the news. She saw the women's ice hockey team highlights and pointed and said, "Mommy, I want to do that." Just after were figure skating highlights which I pointed out to Leda suggesting that maybe she would like to do that, to which she responded, barely looking up, "No, I want to play hockey." On the last day of the Olympics, we wat