What a Great Christmas Party!

This year (08 cause my posting is so late) my Mom threw a Christmas Party for her co-workers and close friends. And I'm glad we were able to go because it was such a blast. I was a little afraid that the number of people crammed in my Mom's house would be too much for Padon but he navigated around the people with no problem.

Walter and I started off the night before the house got too crowded trying to get our Christmas Card picture with Padon in front of my Mom's Christmas tree but there was already too many cool things for Padon to see and it ended up being a lost cause.People arrived quickly and amoungst the good eats and conversations my Dad, a few of his band friends, and one of my Mom's co-worker's wives started up a concert of Christmas music. They must have played for at least an hour before they ran out of songs. Padon just stood in the middle of it like it happens all the time.

My Mom had a lot of games planned and prizes to give out and everyone had a really great time! She had under estimated the power of a karaoke machine and didn't anticipate us playing it for at least 3 hours straight but we had a really good time. It was a very successful party and I think she looks forward to having another one next year.


The following morning with my Mom's help I was able to get a Christmas picture of Padon that I am so proud of. What a cutie!

I Finally Got To See The Trans-Siberian Orchestra!

Walter saw a commercial for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and called me at work to say, hey they're in town, you have always wanted to go, I think we should do it! And being on a two paycheck a month budget and having recieved an "extra check" in October and therefore already having our Christmas money in hand I went to Ticket Master and made us the owners of two tickets to Trans-Siberian Orchestra!

I wasn't sure what to expect other than what I had heard on the three CD's I own and I was really excited to finally go and see them. The first half of the 3 hour show was their Christmas show that was on the CD I have (above). Walter found it to be too Halmark (his words) and wished that there was more rock'n roll and less narration and slow singing. The second half of the show were songs that were some of their most popular and they were really awesome and didn't let us down when they promised the crowd they were going to start blowing stuff up. It was an amazing light show the whole time and the music really was incredible. We had full view of the stage and could feel the heat of the flaming jets. It was very cool! Afterwards we went to dinner at the Racha Thai and Noodle House ( it was just ok) and then went back to Erin and Evan's house where we hung out drinking tropical shots and rum and coke. It was a lot of fun and huge thanks to Erin and especially Evan for watching Padon for us for most of the day.

The pictures below I had to get off the web. I did bring my camera but they made Walter take it back to the car because camera's weren't allowed. Thank goodness we got a good parking spot not too far from the Key Arena.

Amazing!

Ha! Ha! - Stinks to be you!

Padon's a walking machine now and about two weeks ago I heard some grunting and frustrated sounds coming from the other room. I went in and found this. Too funny! He quickly gave up and hasn't tried since.

Art Projects

I have been trying to introduce Padon to markers and paper (he eats the crayons) and while he is still too young or disinterested I still like to bring it out and try again. And even better I found a warm snuggly part in my heart in recycling an old dress shirt of mine as a smock for him. Which fastened with a binder clip in the back he loved to wear and chased me up and down the hall way.

I drew on the shirt marking it as Padon's Smock and Padon very dilegently tried to put the markers back in the box. Too bad the box was upside down and open. He put a lot of effort into it. So much so the box couldn't be saved in the end.

Halloween 2008!

So this year with the United Way Campaign at PACCAR I had no time to create some fabulous and awe inspiring costumes for Halloween. But we were invited to a Halloween party with a TV theme so we went as The Apprentice contestants. Padon was Troy Underbaus, Walter was Daniel Upurbaum, and I was Diane Powers. All three of us wore our pants suits and Padon was so adorable. Check out his tiny buns in those pants! We didn't get any pictures of the three of us together but Walter and I looked pretty nice as well. Although one little girl (12 years old at the most?) referenced my tuxedo which I found funny because it wasn't by any means a tuxedo but it was funny to see it from her perspective.

New Jammies!

Padon's got new jammies!!!! I went to Costco to see what deals they had on onsies and found they had a pile of fantastic, soft, and fun PJ's and outfits and I cleaned up. I walked away with four new outfits for $6.97 each and 4 new pairs of Feet Pajamas, also for $6.97 each. They are so cute and, even better, the ones I wanted from the Carter Outlet store near my house where they wanted $12 a piece! Woohoo!!!
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Oh, Roadie Girl! Your Time Has Come...

For 16 months Roadie has been in Padon's face, knocked him over, gotten dog hair on his toys, and made him cry. Well the table has turned. Now she is committed to repeatedly retrieving her much loved chew toy from his hands, struggled with how he eats in her face, and has been repeatedly slapped on the back. She hasn't realized yet what a best friend she has or could have in Padon. She is still very unnerved that we give him food and drinks and not her (nevermind the just filled dog bowl and treat sitting in it), play with him and not her (nevermind the dog chew that just was hurled down the hall), and that I hug on Padon first when I come in the door (Padon doesn't stamp all over my stalking'd feet and nice high heel shoes and slacks).

What Happens If You Don't Use the Lap Belt

He purposely slouches and unless he has a lap belt on he will slide as far down as he can go. He takes after his Mom I guess. Well I don't purposely slouch although I definitely have a subliminal slouching problem. I will start out sitting up straight (trying to make a point to my spine and body that I really do want to sit up straight) and then realize minutes later I'm slouching. At least I don't get stuck under my table...

Well Almost There...

The Many Faces of Padon