The Last Few Months...

Hello all,

Well, now that it's 2011, I decided that it was a good time to reflect on the past year and catch everyone up on the past three months or so that have been without a blog post. First of all, sorry about that. There really wasn't much to say. It wasn't until we received several complaints from family members over Christmas that I realized that people actually read our blog, and that we should post more often to avoid suspicion that we've died or something.

So here we go...

After my week of playing mommy, I got to go on a well-deserved vacation. My uncle bought me a ticket to go down to California for a week. I spent part of the week in San Jose with my uncle and part of it in San Francisco with my aunt. I had my camera with me, but I forgot to take pictures. I didn't really have anything to take pictures of anyway. I just did a lot of shopping. I did go to this AMAZING art exhibit at a museum in San Francisco that was doing a series on impressionism with paintings from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Seriously. Amazing.

After a week wearing shorts in October (it was awesome!) I drove back to Oregon with my uncle so he could spend some time with my siblings. He grew up in the Bronx so he's never been to the pumpkin patch. We needed to fix that. I don't think he was very impressed with it, but he sucked it up for my brother and sister.

In November I did another huge favor for my step mom (she owes me BIG TIME). She was planning a wedding for her friend's daughter and she needed a caterer. Here are a few pictures of what I did.

Macaroni and cheese shooters

Baby red potatoes filled with garlic mayonnaise BLT bites

Asian chicken salad cucumber cups

Christmas has come and gone. We had a lot of fun in La Grande, but as always, it's nice to be home (especially after a seven hour drive that should have taken five). As usual, Bert and Ernie tried to destroy Christmas. I was worried about leaving them unsupervised when we went to La Grande, but the tree was still in tact when we got home. I was impressed that they were able to practice self-control. Here is a picture of Bert in his Christmas attack zone.

That's all folks! I'm really going to try and be better about posting on the blog this year. Because we don't have kids, go on vacation, or really do anything of interest, this means you're probably going to get a lot of posts about completely inane events like what I had for breakfast (toaster strudels). Maybe I'll just start making stuff up. I don't know. Keep checking back to find out!

Brianne

I'm not sure I'm cut out for this...

Seriously y'all, parenting is HARD. My step mom hired me to babysit my brother/sister/step brothers last week while she was out of town and my dad was at work. For the most part I just had to make sure everyone made it to school on time. My biggest job was to take care of Devin and Sam, who both have autism.

Autism is a tricky thing to deal with, especially when you aren't used to it. The condition itself is actually a huge spectrum of developmental issues that can be vastly different from one child to another (as is definitely the case with Devin and Sam). Devin is eighteen years old but functions at the level of a six-year old, so he needs to be under constant supervision. Sam is eleven years old and is higher functioning than Devin. He was able to get himself ready in the morning, but is easily upset and has difficulty communicating his feelings.

My step mom explained to me that people with autism think in black and white. There is not gray area. They need structure and concrete evidence that this is the way things are supposed to be. One of the highlights of the week was when Devin freaked out on me because I didn't use the timer when I baked a frozen pizza. I never use the timer at home because our oven doesn't stay a consistent temperature. So when a frozen pizza says bake 23-25 minutes, I check on the pizza after about 20 and continue to check on it until it's done. This doesn't work for Devin. To him, the pizza is done when the timer goes off. Even though the pizza was done, he refused to eat it when I took it out of the oven. So I had to put it back in, set the timer, and take it back out when the timer went off. Even though the pizza was burned, Devin was happy.

That is just one example of what I had to deal with all week. The worst part for me was how early I had to wake up. It seemed like no matter how early I went to bed, 5:00 AM came way too fast. It's a lot earlier than I was used to getting up, and as one who needs to be heavily medicated just to get to sleep every night, early mornings aren't typically fun for me. But, with Diet Coke in hand, I was confident that I could pull this off.

Overall things went pretty smoothly, although there were a few hiccups along the way. Sam faked several illnesses to get out of going to school, and usually threw a tantrum when it was time to take his medicine. Devin had a few issues (the pizza fiasco was the most notable), but he's generally pretty mellow. He spent most of the day watching cartoons, which he would pause every few minutes (they have a DVR) and ask me what I thought about them. It was really hard getting any homework done, so I eventually retreated to another room.

The week was starting to take it's toll by Thursday. I don't know if it was the hours of cartoons, the lack of sleep, or the stress, but I was starting to lose it. I forgot to wash my hair in the shower, which was a great way to start the morning. Sam, of course, didn't want to go to school. I was out of Diet Coke. It wasn't a good day. For anyone.

This is how I looked when I got home that day:

Not pretty. But I managed to survive. And I didn't cry once. I believe I have earned my vacation now, thanks. I also learned some things about myself along the way:

1.Josh and I will not be having kids for a loooooong time.

2. When we do have kids, they will not be allowed to watch cartoons. They are the worst.

3. I might be addicted to Diet Coke.

Mad props to all of you parents out there. I don't know how you guys do it.

What happened?

Where did the summer go?

It didn't help that the weather didn't start to look summery until mid-July, but seriously, what happened? Apparently Josh and I now have two more beautiful nieces that we have yet to meet (congratulations Heather/Tony and Chris/Audra!!!). I just realized that it has been over two months since we updated our blog! Here's a quick run-down of what we've been up to (it's going to be a very short list):

1. We went camping at the sand dunes with my dad's side of the family. It was pretty fun, but I was sick so it really wasn't that fun for me. Josh really likes riding on the dunes. So much, in fact, that he ordered his own helmet and gloves for next year.

2. I've been up to a whole lot of NOTHING since summer term ended. I did find a new favorite blog to read. This blog takes pictures from home decor catalogs (like Pottery Barn) and created a family that "lives" in the catalogs. That description doesn't really do it justice. Just go here and revel in the hilarity.

3. Wow. I have seriously run out of things to say. Sorry, no pictures of delicious baked goods. Maybe I'll have more interesting things to say some other time. I just wanted everyone to know that we're still alive!

A Love Story

Once upon a time there was a little boy...

...and a little girl.The little boy and the little girl eventually grew up and went to college. They went to a magical place called Oregon State University.At first, the girl didn't really think the boy was interested, but he must have been, because he asked her over to his place to eat pizza and play Wii. This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

One day, the boy decided he wanted to take their relationship to the next level, so he proposed to the girl. Apparently the girl isn't very good at taking hints, because she didn't see it coming.
She said yes, and six months later they were married.
It has been two years since that beautiful summer day in June. A lot has happened since then. They adopted two cats (an idea that the girl is still not completely sold on), bought a new car, moved to a new city, got rid of their stupid futon, and learned how to be grown ups. The last two years have been incredible, and the girl is looking forward to seeing what is in store for them in the years to come.


The End

Summer has officially begun!!!

Hello everyone!!!!!!

It's been a while since we posted anything! Things have been surprisingly busy. Now that things have calmed down a bit, I can give y'all a quick update of what's been going on with us these days:
1. We went to La Grande for Memorial weekend/Josh's grandma's 80th birthday party.I made strawberry cupcakes for the festivities--this time with a little help from Elsa.

2. Josh's birthday was last week. We kept it pretty low key. Josh took a half day, we went to Olive Garden for dinner, and we bought him this:So far the cats have been using his present more than he has, but the weather is FINALLY starting to perk up, so hopefully he can get some quality longboarding in this summer. Here is a gratuitous picture of his birthday cake:
You're welcome. Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, topped with chocolate peanut butter ganache. It was deadly, but it was FANTASTIC.

3. My brother's birthday was also last week. He turned 12!!! (sorry, no pictures)

4. My sister graduated from high school!

I'm so proud of her! Everyone is getting so big! I feel old. Also, I have bangs now!

Happy summer everyone!