Mingo Monday

Friday night we arrived home after Macing 2008 (hopefully this does not imply that there will be a Macing 2009 or any other year) and what to my wondering eyes would appear?? A package, that must have been left by some reindeer!!

I raced into the house as fast as could be to open it. I like packages.

I opened it up and found the most beautiful things. A tackalicious pink Christmas tree (although I don't see the tacky in it, I just think it is perfect!!!), a Santa and flamingo ornament, and the cutest ever little flamingo print.

They made me melt. The beautiful gifts were sent to my by B and K. These two wonderful women have become Jenn's and mine's rocks. They are always just a phone call or text away...always ready to listen, or kick my butt in a game of MarioKart or chase me around in circles and laugh at me in Animal Crossing. I'm telling you the Wii wi-fi connection is wonderful for connecting us to our friends, who we have never met (hopefully soon???!!!???).

Thank you both so much. Thank you K for calling to check my tackyometer to see if there was anything to tacky for me. Thank you for picking out these wonderful presents. You didn't need to do that. I am just as thankful for you. Thank you B for making sure they got in the mail. You liar. (she called for our address to "send a Christmas card")

Do I have any pictures of these wonderful gifts? Um, have you not ever read my blog?? Here they come!

All three:


The awesome flamingo print:


The perfect flamingo ornament:


Thank you so much. I don't have the words.

It appears that Lyz and I married a set of eternal frat brothers.

So...remember the pumpkin guts drinking dare? It is something quite common between Jenn and Chris. They (usually Chris) think of something stupid and dare the other (usually Jenn) to do it.

One night in the hospital room they noticed the smelling salts taped to the bathroom door. Chris wondered aloud what they really smelled like. I said I didn't think it was bad, but they had been used on me for their actual purpose.

Chris was up out of his chair trying to figure out how to pop it open faster than lightening. And just as swift had Jenn agreeing to sniff it for him. He sniffed it too, also forcing it upon Lyz. I got a free pass as I have been there done that before.

Did you know there is a natural next step to take after you have sniffed upon the foul odor smelling salts?

No?

Me either. But apparently the idea of shoving foul smelling substances up your nose will lead right into the idea of spraying each other with mace.

Yes, mace.

While Chris was in the police academy he had to get sprayed with pepper spray, it was one of the tests he had to pass. So, like me getting my free smelling salts pass, Chris did too.

That leaves Jenn. Chris's birthday was yesterday. For one of his birthday presents Jenn allowed him to spray her in the face, with mace.

We all lined up outside to watch the process and had Joni call Jenn's name...and then he got her. But that wasn't enough. She didn't react. We were all bored. Very anticlimactic. So...he sprayed her again.

BULLS EYE!

This time it worked. There was a string of foul words (that I mostly cut out of the video, fear not, I think I only missed one). There was much spitting and drooling and blowing of the nose. Two puffy red eyes. One Jenn standing in the shower with a tee shirt on, with no hot water, only the cold, spraying herself in the face. One Heidi standing right outside the shower fully dress, and drenched. And much, much laughter.

Some pictures:

She spent half the time outside, post macing, begging for a towel to wipe her face, and the other half begging for more cold water spray. (It isn't Windex, it was just an empty bottle filled with cold water)


Chris laughing while Dennis videotapes the scene.

Sitting in the shower trying to get some relief.

The aftermath.

Videos--be reminded the that first one has one swear in it...

The baby's here the baby's here!!

**Warning...this post does include lots of newborn baby pictures**

So, sorry for the lack of a mingo monday this week, I was preoccupied!!! Lyz's c-section was scheduled for 1pm on Monday December 8th.

Lyz is one of those uber-patient people that does not want to know the sex of the baby until that magical moment when the Dr. says "Its a _____". But that ruins some of the fun for Lyz, since she is in recovery when Chris goes out to the waiting room and announces to the family that mom and baby are healthy, and that the baby is a_____.

So, Avery, Joni, Dennis, Jenn and I were kind and semi-patient and waited until Lyz came out of recovery and could introduce us to the baby herself. That was really really really hard. See, we saw Chris come down the hallway with a big beautiful smile on his face, and had to cover our ears and yell "LALALALALLAALALA" to remind him. He took other family members into the hall around the corner and told them and showed them the video and pictures. Then they all came back. And they all knew. And Jenn and I did not know. (Joni and Dennis had Avery at the mall keeping her occupied.)

In case you don't know...I HATE SURPRISES. With a passion. No surprise parties. I don't even like gifts and will go to all sorts of lengths to find out what people may have bought for me. It's bad. Very bad.

I shall give you our personal guesses on what the baby was going to come out as. From very early on I had determined that the baby was a boy. Constantly calling the baby him or he. The last time Lyz was in the hospital I was there when they gave her a very longl ultrasound. They went over that area so many times, I was sure I would have seen a penis if there had been one, but never saw one. And I changed to not being sure, but still leaning towards a boy. It just seemed like Lyz and Chris were going to have a boy.

Jenn never stopped doubting that the baby is a boy. Even elbowed me when a family member said he.

So....after waiting several eternities we were escorted back to the room where Lyz was waiting for us, without the baby. We hugged and chatted. Remember how I've told you that Lyz has the highest pain tolerance of anyone I know...she proved it again. This time they gave her a spinal so she didn't feel the c-section thank goodness. But she still looked radiant and showed no sign of pain what-so-ever.

Finally the nurse brought the baby in. Every time a nurse would come in we would all freak a little and remind them NO PRONOUNS!!! Joni, Dennis, Jenn and I turned our backs, and Avery sat on the bed next to Lyz so that Avery could meet and hold her little sibling for the first time.



As the nurse left the room she told Lyz "I'll be back in a few minutes to show you how to use the bulb syringe on her."

And that is how after waiting a million hours we found out that the baby is a girl.

A beautiful 10 pound 2 ounce, 20.5 inch long picture perfect little baby girl. Her name is Delaney Leuck. Delaney is after Chris's father Delmar, and Leuck is for Lyz's grandfather who just recently passed away.

What?? You want pictures?? Oh baby I've got about 8 million of them, coming right up!!

Avery meeting her little sister for the first time:


Mom and Delaney:


Baam and her newest granddaughter: (aka Joni)


I don't have any of Chris and Delaney in this set for some reason, so I'll show off Jenn and Chris celebrating instead:


Jenn and Delaney:



(I couldn't decide which I liked better, so you get them both)

Delaney, Avery and I:


Avery was a wonderful big sister. She made Delaney her very first birthday cake:

(out of playdough of course)

Jenn was given the honorable task of making sure that Avery got enough attention, which is Jenn's favorite task in the world. They had the playdough and a dinosaur coloring book that kept the two of them content.

There was also a little playroom at the end of the hallway and on one of their walks to it Avery looked up and asked Jenn "Am I still your favorite." "Yes, but I'm going to love and play with Delaney too" "Okay, as long as I'm still your favorite.

Avery screamed and yelled and bawled when it was time to go home. She wanted Delaney to come home with her. Awwwwwww.

Thank you for calling, texting, Facebooking or emailing us wishing us well on Monday. It wasn't difficult like I thought it might be. I cried more driving to the hospital than I did holding the baby. It was simply too happy of an occasion to let my own woes hold me down. We did lose it a little at one point, but that was totally expected.

Welcome Delaney. I am very much going to enjoy having you for a niece.

So proud of my Jenn!

Today Jenn graduates from college.

I am so proud of you Jenn. So very proud.

You never gave up!!

You are the best!!

You are my favorite teapot in the collection!!

sooo

I'm making the final batch of cookies...the ones that will get judged tonight at the contest...

and Blue Christmas came on the radio.

and I started crying. (happy tears...cause it means Blue is thinking of me while I make these cookies)

and now I can't remember if I put 3 or 4 cups of flour in.

Welcome to the cookie factory

Hi! My name is Heidi and this is my kitchen:

(please just pretend I am wearing a bra)

We are going to make mystery cookies. Here is the recipe:
Mystery Cookies......

1/2 cup butter, melted
3-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 can condensed tomato soup
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. nutmeg (or freshly ground, 1 tsp)
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 cups raisins
2 cups chopped walnuts
4-1/2 cups flour

Mix melted butter and sugar until combined well.

Mix in the eggs.

Add tomato soup and mix well. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Then add the raisins and walnuts. Stir.

Mix in flour in one cup increments.

Let the dough sit for 15 minutes. Drop the dough by teaspoon onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake at 350°F for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown on top. Let cookies cool on sheet for 1-2 minutes, but not longer or you'll never get them off. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Okay, so the story behind these cookies is that I used to absolutley hate tomato soup. With a passion. Gag. I hated anything tomato, except ketchup and spaghetti sauce. I used to whine that I was allergic to them. (In all honesty I do develop a rash when dealing with raw tomatoes, so it's not that big of a lie.) So....one day we went over to my Grandma's (mom's mom) house and she had just finished making a batch of cookies...did I want to try one?

Here's Grandma:

Anywho...I try the cookies. Are they yummy? She asked. Yeppers they were delicious. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You just ate tomato soup! She was a wonderful trickster. Always up for a prank on someone. I remember one April Fools day me and my friend Amy had spent the night before at her house and decided to trick her with playdough pancakes and bacon. My darling Grandma ate a few bites and pretended not to get our joke!

Anywho...back to our cookie trial last night. We had too much fun. We really like baking together, maybe we're odd.

Jenn thought the batter first looked like mashed potatoes, or urine snow.
I have to show off my beautiful flamingo pink mixer...Thanks Mom and Dad

Proof that we put the tomato soup in the dough:

A picture of my assistant:

Jenn even bought me new cookie sheets for the special occasion!

Minne even enjoyed the taste testing:

Ready to go in the oven:

Jenn swiped one before they were even cooled!


I will be honest and say that I think they taste awful. They aren't as awesome as my memory was remembering them. Jenn on the other hand thought they tasted totally awesome. Either way, they made it into the finals. It doesn't matter if I win or lose, it matters that I'm playing the game.

Mingo Monday

I love Build-A-Bear. Why yes, I am 31 years old. We used to go all the time with Annabelle. We even made the horsey one to be buried with Jenn's cousin Jenna when she passed away from cystic fibrosis. I have given each one to my mom (a koala), my dad (a frog) and my brother (a bear).

One day while there I mused that I was sad that they didn't have a flamingo. I had signed up for their email updates (I sign up for everyone's email updates, you never know when they are gonna offer a great coupon deal!!) and one day they sent me the email of my dreams.

Build-A-Bear was bringing out a pink flamingo.

We were there the first day it was offered. I was so excited. The employees got a kick out of me! I had to dress her so I got a scrapbooking outfit. She now sits on my craft table and watches over me while I work. She has gone to every crop (when a bunch of scrapbookers get together and work on their scrapbooks over m&ms and gossip) since I got her...even on an overnight crop in Maryland!


a close up of her outfit: