Rock on!

So my parents gave us the Guitar Hero game they received on the Dr. Phil show, and John convinced me I needed to give it a try (like I need another distraction!). I have to say, it is quite fun. John and I still joke about how it's for people who don't play the guitar but want to feel cool like they do (I fall under that category, though John does not), but it is really fun. In fact, I'm just waiting for John to finish playing Halo so that I can have a turn with the Xbox. :)

In other random news, I'm now officially the Young Women's secretary. From primary to Young Womens! I enjoyed that month I had being able to go to Relief Society again, but I really am very excited to be in the Young Women's program. I think it'll be really fun and I'll learn a lot. In fact, I already learned something today--they've changed the theme a bit since I was last in there! That kind of threw me off...anyway, I'm excited. I get to work with some great women.

And I'll just continue on in my randomness....on Friday we got a call from Michelle Obama asking if they could count on our vote. I feel so special. Granted, it was a recording obviously, but it's still cool to have our election matter.


I got a new cell phone yesterday...an awesome orange enV. I get why they call it that, 'cause if I didn't have one, I'd be envious of me. :) It's a cool phone, I'm having a hard time putting it down.

Hmmm, is the Xbox available yet?

Bupba

We were lucky to have grandma and grandpa (aka bupba and bupba) Mangum visit us this week. As always, it was so fun! It was SO cute to watch Andrew with grandma and grandpa, he clearly ADORES them. Every morning after he woke up he'd be asking where they were (which was sad this morning, since they left last night). He especially enjoyed playing trains with them and would come and grab them by the hand and drag them into his room to play. We found it especially cute that Andrew kept getting confused, calling me "bupba" and grandma "mommy". He would then realize his mistake and correct himself, which was adorable.

On Tuesday morning when they arrived, Andrew was sitting at the window watching for them and he literally squealed and jumped up and down when he saw them. It was way too cute. We got to go to Babe's that night, which was yummy as always, and we unfortunately discovered that they have incredibly delicious desserts in addition to their amazing dinner. Babe's=overeating. It was fun though. My parents were then nice enough to stay with Andrew while we went to see Enchanted, which, by the way, was quite a cute and funny movie. It was just so nice to go see a movie, we never get to do that. When we are lucky enough to go on a date, we usually just have time for dinner.

Anyway, Wednesday morning grandma was nice enough to come get Andrew and take him back to the hotel for breakfast so that I could sleep in. Until 10am. 10!!! Wow. It was so nice. It was also really fun to celebrate grandpa's birthday with him, something that Andrew has never been able to do and I haven't done in years. He got a birthday pie and some cute framed pictures of Andrew and Evan. Andrew of course enjoyed helping unwrap the presents and blow out the candles. Grandpa was really lucky we didn't have the nice folks at Texas Roadhouse sing to him--he would've had to sit in a saddle (though it would've been hilarious).

Andrew loves helping unwrap presents.

The highlight of Thursday was taking Andrew down to the Age of Steam train museum in Dallas. Of course we picked the one freezing day to go (and it is an outdoor exhibit) but Andrew wasn't the least bit bothered by the cold; he was way too excited about all the trains to look at and climb on. As we were walking through, Andrew kept excitedly saying "choo choo na!" (translation: another train!). It was a really neat exhibit, made better by the fact that Andrew enjoyed it so much. He did get a little freaked out when we went inside some of the trains, but other than that, he was in heaven. Sadly, grandma and grandpa had to leave Thursday night. We wish their trip could've been longer, but we enjoyed the time we did get with them. Andrew had a blast. I think we don't really realize how much we miss family until we get to be around them again, and then when they leave it's really hard for awhile. I can't wait until May when this baby is born and we'll get to see lots of family!

Mommy and Andrew sitting in the...engineer's seat?

Andrew with Grandma, Grandpa, and a really cool train.

Andrew was distracted by a dog and wouldn't look at the camera.

Andrew loved playing choo choos with Grandma.

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, yes, I know Valentine's Day was yesterday. I just never got a chance to post anything yesterday. Besides, we're still kind of celebrating it today because John and I weren't able to go out last night since John had class, so we went out on our date tonight. Hooray for dates! We've had a very nice two day Valentine's.

Yesterday I decided to make my boys' favorite breakfasts, so John got blueberry muffins and Andrew got Swedish pancakes (they were pink this time). Andrew and I then had fun assembling Valentines to deliver to his friends. I had made truffles (which, by the way, was really fun to do) for John and our friends so Andrew "helped" me put them in the paper cups (boy was he helpful :). During this time, however, he discovered that the raspberry truffles were yummy and devoured three of them in less than ten minutes. Wow was he hyper the rest of the morning! We also put together Andrew's Shrek Valentine's, and he was soooo excited they had Shrek on them. It was quite cute.

Andrew liked "helping" with the truffles. Can you see the chocolate around his mouth?

Earlier this week, us moms had decided that we would leave "mailboxes" out on our doorsteps so all the kids could drop off Valentines to each other. Andrew and I had a blast decorating his mailbox (I should have taken a picture, he's quite the artist!) and he was excited to get all the Valentines out of it as they were delivered throughout the day. We also had fun delivering our Valentines, but Andrew always wanted to go inside and play rather than just drop them off.

Anyway, after delivering everything I took Andrew on a date to Chipotle (thanks for cluing me in on that free burrito, Emily!) since we both love it so much. We ate our yummy food and had a great time. Andrew is a great date!

Andrew trying to share his rice with me--such a gentleman!

Once we got home and Andrew was down for a nap, I attempted my first cheesecake: a chocolate raspberry cheesecake, especially for John (since I think fruit and chocolate together is a sin). I think it actually turned out ok, though I haven't personally eaten it. John's only comment was that the raspberry sauce was "different". [Editorial comment by John: The preceding statement is incorrect. Let me set the scene....Nelsen home, 11:00 pm: John, stuffed with the aforementioned truffles, a home cooked meal, and all other sorts of Kara's yummy cooking/baking, is trying to peer over his fat gut to study...Kara cuts a "sliver" (slab) of cheesecake to see if she can fit anything else down his ever-shrinking throat. Seeing the quality of the cheesecake John accepts. He enjoys the cheesecake immensely and is intrigued by the sauce. Wondering what it is he innocently asks "What's the sauce, is it different? After answering Kara goes to bed before John can shower his praises down on her for the heavenly cheesecake. Now, back to the blog...] I sure enjoyed making it though.

John's chocolate raspberry cheesecake. I clearly need to work on my photography skills. I guess I've forgotten everything I learned in my photography class (though it was 7 years ago now).

After Andrew got up it was time to exchange presents and cards, which is always fun (especially for Andrew). Andrew loved his personal box of truffles, his new book (Mommy's Little Star) and his Finding Nemo card. John, who knows me oh-so-well, [Editorial comment by John: This is a correct statement.] bought me some new beautiful red sheets. I've been wanting new sheets for so long (the Martha Stewart ones we bought at Kmart 3 1/2 years ago are looking quite shabby) and these new ones are seriously so gorgeous. Is it weird to get excited about sheets? Maybe. But that's just me I guess. It's seriously the perfect present. Andrew and I got John a gigantic, fuzzy Cubs blanket. I guess I got the idea because I was really tired of John stealing my big fuzzy blanket. :) [Editorial comment by John: Doesn't she paint me to be the biggest villain? Truth be told I can only remember ever using (not stealing) the blanket once, without might I add, any comment from Kara.]

Yummy truffles!

So that was pretty much our actual Valentine's Day celebration, and it was lots of fun. Being Andrew's mommy and John's wife makes me think I must be the luckiest person ever. There aren't even really words to describe how much I love them. Andrew is the cutest, sweetest little boy ever and John is a truly amazing husband and father (I still don't know how he puts up with me). [Editorial comment by John: no comment, just kidding :) ] I love my boys! And I can't wait to meet our new boy!

Ok, sappiness done.

Anyway, John brought me home some beautiful red roses (my favorite, I'm so traditional!) today and apparently got some looks when he was buying them...I guess people either thought he was an idiot or a jerk who forgot that Valentine's Day was yesterday. Little do they know we were still celebrating today! We got to go on our date tonight and it was just so nice. We went to a Mediterranean place down in Dallas and it was so delicious! It's a quiet, intimate little restaurant and the chef came out and greeted us when we arrived. I love places like that! It was just nice to relax and enjoy dinner together and then come home to our adorable Drewbie.

Another long post yet again! Happy (belated) Valetine's Day to all!

Cause I'm the wanderer, yeah the wanderer...

We've been having great weather (though some crazy people like John think it needs to be cold right now) so Andrew and I have been able to go outside and play a lot. Being able to take Andrew outside to play is just wonderful, it makes him so happy. Today we went to the "big playground" in the apartment complex and played there for quite awhile. Andrew just LOVES it over there. We're also lucky enough to be able to see airplanes fly by quite frequently, which Andrew gets really excited about. He'll be poised to go down the slide when he hears an airplane and shouts "Airplane mommy! Airplane! Byeeeeeee airplane!" It's entirely too cute. He also started calling me mom (not mommy) while we were at the playground, which was really distressing. He's way too young to stop calling me mommy. I think I would cry if he stopped.

Andrew in the tunnel at the playground.

Eventually Andrew tired of the playground and wanted to go wander around. We wandered through the field and across the bike path and eventually ended up wandering all the way to Circuit City. Really. He just kept walking, and I let him lead. At that point, he was starting to tire of walking, so we went into Circuit City and I let him rest in one of the shopping carts as I perused the store. Everything was all fine and dandy, Andrew was pointing out all the different things that had Shrek on the cover, and I was just looking around. And then I saw one of the most beautiful sights my eyes have ever beheld: a nice, large Sony Bravia LCD TV with a Blu-Ray player playing a Blu-Ray disc (which happened to be Pirates of the Carribean 3). I've never seen a picture like that in my life! I felt like I was sitting there on the boat with them. It was incredible. It made me wish we could use our tax refund in an irresponsible manner. *sigh*

Anyway, we had a fun little adventure. Hooray for my cute boy.

Xīnnián Kuàilè!

Xīnnián kuàilè, or Happy (Chinese) New Year! Because of my love of the Chinese language, history, and food, I decided that we should celebrate (on a small scale) the Chinese New Year. The Chinese new year began on Thursday but in China the festivities last for a week. Our celebration was limited to a Chinese "feast" that we had last night, but it was still fun (and yummy).

For dinner I made orange chicken (yum!), won tons, egg drop soup, and chow mein. It was all very yummy, though I think we enjoyed the orange chicken the most. After making a meal that large, I had no desire to make dessert (plus most Chinese desserts look gross to me). It was fun and yummy and may have to become an annual tradition. And hey, if you're as nerdy as I am you may enjoy reading about the Chinese New Year.

Ok, so it really doesn't look like much of a feast...but it is a lot for three people! One day I am going to have nice serving dishes and a beautiful set of Chinese-inspired dinnerware.

Yum!

Yum again! We just needed some of those crispy noodles, but sadly, I ran out of won ton wrappers.

Adventures with Andrew the Flower Killer, or: The Longest Post Ever

So this morning I went to do my hair and discovered that I was out of mousse--tragic! Since I didn't want to wait for John to get home with the car and the store is so close (plus it was a beautiful day) I decided to take Andrew on a walk to the store so we could buy me some mousse and a few ingredients that we need for tomorrow's Chinese New Year feast.

Lately Andrew has really preferred walking to riding in his stroller (go figure) so I'll let him walk as far as he can while I have the stroller slung over my shoulder. Andrew loves collecting nature items whenever we walk, so as we were walking, Andrew decided to stop and pick some flowers (dandelions, really, but he thinks they're flowers). He would see one, say "Oooh, what's that Mommy?" and then pick it and say "Here mommy!" However, just as he would start to hand it to me, he would rip the flower from the stem. Poor dandelion never knew what hit it. We sat and did this for about 5 minutes and then I was ready to leave the poor "flowers" alone. Next Andrew decided to pick up a piece of dog poop. Yep, dog poop. I LOVE that people in our apartment complex never clean up after their dogs.

Poor little unsuspecting dandelion...

Anyway, next stop on our walk was to look at the sheep. It's totally random, but next to our apartment complex there's this house that has a lot of sheep. Andrew always loves to stop and look at them and say "Baaa!" So cute.

The rest of our walk was spent pointing out all of the trucks, buses, and airplanes. These things really, really excite Andrew. You should hear him say "BUS!" or "Bye bye airplane!" It's just way too cute. Andrew actually ended up walking all the way to the store (which according to Mapquest is a little over a mile) without riding in his stroller once. Way to be Andrew! I think he's concerned about his figure and wants to exercise more...

The best part of our trip though (not) was when we were in the store. I let Andrew ride in one of those grocery carts that has the car attached to the front and he was loving it. Unfortunately, the buckles inside the little car were broken so I couldn't strap him in. Baaad news. He managed to stay sitting for the first, I don't know, 60 seconds. After that he was constantly trying to climb in and around that little car. It finally got to be too much when I was trying to decide between rice vinegar and rice cooking wine and he completely climbed out of the car and started trying to pull things off the shelf. Yikes. At that point I had told him about ten times that if he didn't stay sitting in the car, I would have to make him ride in a regular cart. So I took him and put him and all of our stuff in a regular cart and he lost it. He was screaming. He would stop screaming and then say "Car!" and I would tell him he couldn't get in the car and he would lose it all over again. Since I only had a couple of things left, I really wanted to finish shopping. A nice little old lady stopped and talked to him and he went dead silent. He's so shy with strangers! Anyway, Andrew calmed down while helping me put the produce in bags and we were able to finish our shopping in peace. Whew.

Since I was really worried he'd fall asleep on the way home and end up in bed without lunch, I decided we should stop and eat at Whatburger (I know, I have an eating out addiction. It's bad.) As we were walking up to the restaurant, he got all excited and started saying "Yummy!" It's the strangest thing, if we go past a fast food place, he'll always say that--even if we've never even eaten there before! We enjoyed a nice lunch (he even ate his!) and got to chat with some nice elderly people who were in the booth next to us. Odd little side note: this couple started their meal (at a fast food restaurant, might I add) with a prayer (wait a minute, we're not in Utah! Though it is the South...) and then proceeded to have a somewhat detailed conversation about Britney Spears. Odd! I didn't think the 65+ crowd followed the Britney drama.

Mmmmm, Whataburger!

Anywho, it was an interesting little outing. Andrew's little meltdown in the store reminded me of why he needs to sleep until 8, not 7. It just makes such a big difference.

Holy cow that's a long post.

I'm just so...Lost

I just finished watching a thrilling (as always) episode of Lost and (as always) I'm more confused than ever. I seriously love this show, but it is just so dang confusing. I think this is what I look like every week while I'm watching the show:

Obviously I don't mind being confused, because I still plop myself down in front of Lost every week and freak out if anyone tries to even talk to me while I'm watching it. It is definitely an intense, fun show and I look forward to (eventually) getting more answers. They did say in the commercial for next week that we'll find out who another one of the Oceanic Six is...

While we're on the topic of shows I love, I just have to whine about how much I miss my shows. Stupid strike! And even though it's ending we're still not going to get new episodes of some shows like Pushing Daisies. I really miss that show! And The Office, Ugly Betty, and Samantha Who. Fortunately for me, Top Model starts again in a two weeks. That'll at least give me two shows to watch.

Chuck really has the best wardrobe ever. How I wish I could have all of her dresses! Not that I'd look that good in them, plus I can't really imagine chasing Andrew around all day while being dressed like that, but still....so pretty! I don't know if I can wait until the fall season for more Pushing Daisies!