Spice Girl

Since birth we have known that Poppy is a spicy girl. Last night at dinner she (using her very expressive non-verbal communication) indicated she wanted the bottle of Tabasco sauce. She then proceeded to suck on the top of it.
Her father thinking she would learn her lesson decided not to intervene. To our amazement, she liked it and went back to suck on it again.
After a few licks she decided she wanted a drink of water.

Oh yes, she is quite the spicy girl!

Oscarisms...

Recently My four year old has become an expert an a variety of topics. And for the things he doesn't know he isn't afraid to ask.
While driving he asked me "mom what is on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean?" My response was "Europe" then he says "your what?". This just leads to more conversation on the other continents.
Next: Fire building...Yesterday I decided to build a fire in our new fire place. After chopping some kindling and other wood I began to "build" the fire. Oscar then informed me that I hadn't chopped any kindling and that I didn't know how to build a fire. I assured him I cut kindling and that I did know how to build a fire. He didn't believe me until I actually built the fire. Then tonight Oscar was helping Rick build the fire and he said..."we have to use the little ones first...then the medium ones, and then the big ones."
For dinner the last few days the items on the menu haven't been his favorite. We have still managed to force the food down him...reluctantly. He then informed me that if I would make things he liked than he would eat by himself. Needless to say we had apple waffles tonight. He ate very well and had second helpings. Amazing what a boy can fit in his stomach when it is his "favorite". During prayers tonight he said "thank you for the lovely dinner". I guess he really did like the waffles.

More Christmas pictures...

Thanks Grandma for the sweet Pajamas! Oscar wanted to wear his all day. We love them!

Christmas Review!

Christmas...Yes, we have had a great Christmas. What could be better than sparkling lights, yummy food, super cute kids, a fabulous hubby! Life is good!

Here is a picture outline of our Christmas holiday. The first is Oscar at his pre-school "winter" program. He was so funny. All of the other kids would be singing and doing the actions and Oscar would follow...a couple seconds behind. I wish I knew how to post a video clip. If I figure it out I'll include it.
Next, Oscar and Poppy woke to find that Santa did in fact visit our house. Oscar even received a return letter from the jolly old fellow. He was delighted that Santa enjoyed the licorice, milk, and oranges he left for Santa and his reindeer.
Santa left a fun race car track which, after acquiring some batteries that Santa forgot. Oscar and Ricky spent hours racing each other.
Poppy received her first-ever doll and stroller. She has spent a lot of time running into walls chairs, etc. She likes to stack things on top of her baby. She's quite the little girl.
Christmas afternoon we participated in the blue monkey Christmas 5K run. Participants were encouraged to wear costumes. Rick was adorned in Pink tights and lovely Super-cape. I was wearing the Tutu...Oscar was the red dragon, Poppy the sunflower(bring back memories of Halloween?).
The Edge family runners were first to finish...not that it was really a race or anything. It was a fun run in a bit of rain.
Later we continued to play with the bundle of toys that we acquired from Grandma's etc... Today was somewhat of a flash back to yesterday in the toy department. I spent most of the day picking up and playing with the menagerie of Christmas items around.
We have been so blessed to have great family members, good job, home, life is good!
Merry Christmas -Happy New Year blog world!

Busted!!!

Today was the day of mischief around our house.
After discovering a tampered-with present. I found the evidence of the culprit on Poppy's rear-end.
Next, I came into the kitchen to find Oscar with the play kid phone taken apart. He assured me he could put it back together. Here you see the re-assembly process. To his credit he did a great job.
Then tonight, Rick had set out ingredients for caramel popcorn to make with his scouts. I went spinning and when we returned we discovered that one of the cubes of butter were missing. We assumed that Smiley must have eaten it...package and all. Bu,t then discovered he had taken it by his bed for a mid-night snack. If you look closely you will see the cube of butter(partially eaten) next to the TV cabinet by his bed.
Today, I am the Mother-detective. Like most days around here it's difficult for my kids to really get away with much...I do after all, have eyes in the back of my head.

Tradition...Tradition...

Traditions, the fun things we do together as families that when one thinks back to a certain holiday or event immediately our brains process the thread that pulls all of them together, traditions.

This year we are going to be experiencing our very first Christmas with just us four (five if you count smiley) family members.

Among other activities we experienced the joy of making a gingerbread train! Betina, Kenneth, Eden, and Oakley joined us in the fun-filled process of creating a candy heap of a train!

Here are some pictures of last nights FHE ginger experience. You can get a glimpse of the Workman's train in the background.

Oscar really enjoyed making the train but was quite disappointed when I informed him we will not be eating it until Christmas day. This morning after breakfast he said "mom I just can't wait till Christmas to eat it!" He did manage to knock a small piece off and I allowed him to eat the piece. I wonder if this will become a pattern? Him accidentally bumping it????
Tee next item to report is that I have completed a few projects that have been lingering in the back of my mind for days!!! Oscar and I sorted through our toys today and organized them into tidy little containers. We also sorted out the toys we no longer play with and will take them to good will tomorrow!!! Woo hoo! To some this may seem trivial, but the thought of getting new toys for Christmas, just to be stacked on top of all the other toys was weighing heavy on my clutter conscious brain!
We can now have Christmas! This also was what Rick wanted for Christmas. He asked Santa to get rid of some things for his Christmas present. Therefore I have now killed two birds with one stone. I will ask the Good Will to give me a receipt, and then I'll wrap it up for my hubby for Christmas. (Rick if you read this you can just act surprised on Christmas morning!)
The last picture is the finished product! If you are wanting a fun project to do here is a link to the train recipe and templates. There should be one more train car on our train but we ran out of space on our wrapped cardboard. Good thing about that is that we could eat the leftovers!
If you have any other cool tradition ideas leave me a comment and we'll see what cool traditions we can develop.

Week in review...

Oscar and Poppy share a snuggle on the blankets I had pulled out of her bed while changing her sheets. Poppy is binky-ing on her hair and Oscar likes to rub his chin on her soft hair. I think binky-ing is genetic but as I said before, it came from the Rickster side of the family.

Next, we have Oscar's debut as "Joseph" in the ever-so-famous "joy school" production. He really wanted to be a King(wise man). However, since there are only two boys and two girls in Joy school...Oscar conceded to being Joseph since Kade wanted to be the Inn keeper.

I think this is what parenting is all about! School plays, teacher conferences...we had teacher conference with Oscar's other preschool teachers. We discovered that he is a pretty average kid who loves to play with other kids and likes to be playing more than doing work sheets. (Big surprise!) Yah, well they didn't tell us anything to important to report...sorry. They did mention that he is a perfectionist of sorts and that when other kids are doing things wrong he likes to intervene to put them in their place. They said he isn't violent but can be voiceterous (is that a word?) at times.

Next, we have the Chinese food. Oscar keeps saying that Chinese food is his favorite. So, last Saturday we had real Chinese take-out food. He loved it and the chop sticks. Here is a picture of him eating my not-so-authentic stir fry with the same set of chop sticks.

Last but certainly not least here is the typical picture of Oscar on Santa's (Bro. Creger's) lap. I should make clear that we have told Oscar that Santa was real at one time but that now we celebrate the "spirit of giving" or what we like to refer to as "Santa". Although he knows this it appears that he is still a believer. I don't mind that he believes in Santa, I just have a hard time thinking that I'm not telling him the truth about something. Therefore I made the executive motherly decision to explain that "Santa" isn't real.

Ever since Oscar could barely talk he wanted to know if things were "real" or not. He would ask me things like...Mom is that a real bird? I would make the clarification that yes, it was in fact a chickadee. Then he would want me to clarify if things like monsters, spider man, batman, etc... were real or not. So, now that we have arrived at the belief in Santa (even after my clarification on the matter) I've decided to step back and see where his imagination takes him. (after all, I'm not the one encouraging it) At dinner tonight he said a lovely prayer and asked that Santa would be safe so he would be able to deliver his presents.

Speaking of Oscar prayers. Friday morning I taught an early morning spin class. So, Rick was around with the kids when they woke up and we got to say family prayers together. Oscar wanted to say the prayer and said "Thank you that daddy has a job and makes money so that we don't have to live in a tent and eat bugs." He was very sincere and it made me proud as a Mom to know that my child appreciates the sacrifice his dad makes for our family.

Another funny thing he said was...this morning Rick said "Oscar you should go light the fire". Oscar replied "no dad I can't play with slitches". Yes, we now have another word for the Oscar dictionary.

As for the Popster...she currently has 3 mollers coming in and I'm reminded of my two least favorite things: Immunizations and teething! They both turn my otherwise delightful child into a monster. Not the pretend kind. We are talking the ornery, winy, poopy, fevery, biting, and miserable child. Every time I start to think that aliens have abducted my wonderful child. I realize that they have teeth coming in!

Lastly, and then I'll close this forever long blog entry. If you want to read details(pseudo details) about our disastrous family photo shoot, and about Oscar and dad fighting over what we get to listen to on the car stereo. You'll have to check out the oatmuncher's blog.
happy trails!

Happy Winter Day!

Happy Winter Day! Yes, today I went snow shoeing with some ladies from a ward that does fun activities! If I didn't like Pullman so much I would think of moving to Colfax to hang out with the the cool girls that are in the Colfax ward.
Luckily Betina invited me to go along.
We had a great time and I discovered that I really enjoyed snow shoeing through snowy fields.
Prior, I had thought that skiing was the only way to go. After clopping through some piney woods and snowy fields I discovered it was great fun!

Here are a few pics. 1st Kelly, Betina and I. Then there is a pic of everyone but me...I'm taking the pic.
Thanks to my sweet spouse we now have a fireplace! I came home this afternoon from snow shoeing to find a fire ready to go and Rick had taken the kids shopping. It was so nice to have a nice warm and toasty fire!
I've included a pic of Rick's handy dandy tile and fire insert installation. He did a great job...Don't you think?? What a great hubby!!! Happy Saturday to you. I'm now going to go drink the nice warm tea that Ricky made for me.

Operation!

Thanks to Oscar's wonderful Grandma, we now have the game "Operation". You may recall this game from your youth. The game where you try to pull out fictitious body parts with a pair of tweezers. If you touch the metal edges with the tweezers, the nose lights up and makes a really loud buzzing noise.
Last night Oscar found where I had conveniently placed the game for future (few years down the road) use. Being the nice mommy that I am, we put the batteries in and I carefully showed him how it worked.
The first few times it beeped his eyes got really big and he would jump with this hint of confusion and dislike on his face. He was hesitant to take his turn knowing that he inevitably would hit one of the edges and it would once again make the BUZZZ! After a few minutes of contemplation he decided to take the plunge. Straight for the butterflies in your stomach. With a loud BUZZZZZZZ he dropped the tweezers...looked at me, eyes tearing up, and starts to cry. Yes, Mr. doesn't like loud noises, crawled onto my lap and cried because of "OPERATION"! It took him quite a while to recover. I finally convinced him to try again and I would take the batteries out.
Don't worry grandma...the game is a big hit, minus the batteries.
Oscar has never liked loud noises. He would cry over thunder, fireworks, gunshots (at a parade), and any other loud or otherwise disruptive noise. He is a sensitive kid. He has a soft heart, sensitive ears and a great imagination.
As For "Operation" I think he will leave the batteries out.

Backyard Treasure!

Oh, Christmas tree. Oh, christmas tree. The children love decorating.
Oh, christmas tree. Oh, christmas tree your patchy places are intriguing.
We love to watch the little lights glow. We see the ornaments come and go...
Oh, Chritmas tree. Oh, Christmas tree...we hope you survive Poppy's pulling.

Here is the Edge family tree. He is quite large and pretty. Oscar and Poppy have been having a great time decorating and undecorating it.
Oscar is currently in the process of dipping pine cones in glitter to add to our trees beauty.

Princess Poppy!

Around our house we have a royal highness...yes we have the Princess Poppy. She not only is the boss, but she demands that her requests be granted! (Typically these requests come in the form of increased volume of grunting and forceful bodily gestures.)
The Princess is only a little over one and yet has the authority of those much older than herself. While shopping, visiting grandparents, attending church, etc... she knows just what to do to captivate all persons within her vicinity. She puts her hand on her hip and bends over slightly all the while looking upward, staring into the eyes of the person for whom she wants their attention. If this attempt fails she then proceeds to make her presence known by either loudly requesting attention, or by lovingly snuggling up to them.
It's too bad we all can't be a princess such as her. Can you imagine what would happen if good ol' George W. was to walk into every room of dignitaries and put his hand on his hip, stoop slightly and then proceed to charm them all with a smile?
It does leave one to admire such charismatic abilities. I wish I could throw a tantrum one minute, demand attention the next, and still be considered adorable! It just doesn't happen that way in the Mommy world.
Just this morning as I was trying to make oatmeal for two VERY demanding hungry children. I found myself wanting to wine back in response that it takes more than 10 seconds to make oatmeal!!!! Yet, I knew that if I were to wine and complain, it would fall on deaf ears. Yes, they would still ignore my tantrum and demand that they want their bellies filled at this very moment.
That is how it goes for us servants of the Princess. We conform to requests merely to avoid the conflict that is sure to arise if we were to otherwise ignore the request. This I like to call "choosing my battles". Hopefully in the end, we have a princess who charms, and a prince (Oscar) who listens and obeys and a mother who has her sanity still in tact.

Winter Wonderland

After a week of busy life and not blogging...I attempt to catch my loyal readership up on the Family. Here we are today at the park sledding.
It has been so pretty here with a bunch of snow and cold enough temperatures to keep it on the ground.
Rick tried to convince Oscar that snow tubes are better than sleds...But Oscar was not convinced. Therefore, Rick got a tube and Oscar a sled. I think both of them like to have their own specific preferences!
Poppy was a human sea-star decked out in Oscar's old snow suit and boots. She liked the snow for the first half hour, then the only time she was happy was when she was going down the hill with us.
Oscar loved sledding. He seemed to never get tired or cold. Rick and poppy went home and left Oscar and I there with smiley to play and walk home later. It's a good thing that the palouse is so hilly, because I convinced Oscar to walk home with me so that he could sled down the hills on the way home.
Smiley the Dog nearly caught himself a duck! The Pond was mostly frozen over so he could have better access to the slow, cold birds. While sledding we had to tie him up so that he wouldn't torment the poor birds.
Yes, it was a merry winter day at our house. We chopped down our Christmas tree from our back yard. It is so tall that it pretty much goes to the highest point of our vaulted ceiling.
We had a great time decorating and Poppy still is playing with all the decorations. (I'll include more Pictures of the "Princess" later).
Have a happy winter day!

Memories...

Happy Thanksgiving!
Being back here in Utah I have had a flood of memories come back to me. Yesterday Rick and I went for a Run along the Jordan River Parkway. I suddenly remembered a time last summer when I took Oscar for a run on the same route. I’ve decided to share it with you as I am now THANKFUL not to be pregnant…
While running on this pathway and nearing the turnaround point, Oscar needed to go “Potty”. Seeing a bathroom up ahead I ran as fast as my pregnant body would go. Arriving at the bathroom we discovered it was locked! This typically isn’t an issue for Oscar as long as he is going #1. This however was a #2 emergency.
About a ½ mile further was another bathroom. I first tried to get him to go in the bushes…didn’t work. I put him back in the stroller and off we ran to the next bathroom.
The bathroom was open to my relief and I sat Oscar on the toilet.
He was now old enough that he didn’t want me in the stall with him while he did his work (I was 7 months prego and took up most of the stall anyway). Patiently I waited outside of the stall.
Minutes passed and Oscar finished his work. He is still young enough however that he still needs me to help wipe. As I went to open the door I discover that Oscar has locked it and he now could not/would not unlock the door! Yes, this is the moment when the mommy becomes the not-so-nice mom and demands that Oscar unlock the door so that I can help him. He just laughs. The laugh begins to fuels my pregnant short-tempered mind!
Taking stock of my options I realize that I’m going to have to crawl under the door opening to get Oscar taken care of! Here’s the dilemma…My belly is large enough that I had to suck my protruding stomach in as far as possible…and I still barely (that is had to wiggle to get under and through the opening) made it under.
I should note that the bathroom floor was not clean!
After rescuing the naughty child, I put him back in the stroller to finish the run back.
Oh…the memories!
Yes I’m grateful that I am not as large as a whale…thankful that I have great families and friends. Yes, and I’m very grateful for my two beautiful children who help me become a more well rounded person!

Road Trip!!

There are few things greater than a super surprise!
Only better, is to be the one who is giving the surprise.
To plan, prepare, and concoct a surprise that in the end goes just as planned. Is worth every ounce of work that goes into making it happen.

This morning we were able to pull off such a stunt and to our great delight surprised Rick's parents. We had made plans to surprise them by driving to Utah on Wednesday. Rick's very nice boss however, said he could take the whole week and do some work from here. So, Saturday after running the turkey run in Lewiston, doing laundry, packing, and buying a minivan (two hours before we left) we hit the road for Utah.

Twelve hours later we arrived in the SLC valley. We decided to wait until his parents were at church to surprise them. We staked out their house until they left for church...Oscar said "we are in dangerous territory" as we were parked a few houses away, monitoring their house until they left. Then we quickly dressed in Sunday attire and sat down next to them at church. They were very surprised and we were delighted to have pulled it off!

Now, here we are Monday and enjoying being back in the comfort of grandpa and grandma's house. Oscar is busy keeping grandma entertained (or is that the other way around?). Poppy is taking a well needed nap. Rick is doing some of his work. As for myself, I'm enjoying being in a house where I don't have to think about what needs to be done. I can sit back and enjoy the sound of Oscar and Grandma's make believe world (no wonder he has such a great imagination!).

Now, we will go back and address the the addition of the MINIVAN!
Yes, I now have to adjust my perceived image of myself to included...The minivan! This is no easy task. I must admit that the trek to Utah was very comfortable. And as far as minivans go...It is cute?...I mean good looking?...I dunno...It's a nice minivan. I'm not complaining... I'm just trying to figure out how to define my new vehicle and how it defines me.

I've now come to a new crossroad in my life where I am treading on territory that I hadn't prepared myself for. I still see myself as 22, that Rick and I are still in school, I'm still in touch with what is cool and what is not...I'm not prepared to be a REAL minivan mom!!!

The image of a worn out mom with stretch pants and undone hair comes to mind! Ok , ok, so most days during the week I don't shower or do my hair until 3pm in the afternoon. And I'm typically in spandex of sorts until that time...It's just that it is easier to shower when I don't have to worry about my children getting into the Sharpie markers and writing all over my retro luggage (oh wait I don't have any retro luggage...Betina ?). Yes, I do most of my errands in this attire and by the time I have actually showered and dressed myself for the day...I have no where else to go... At least my hubby gets to see me in normal clothing!

I'm sure I will adjust to the fine features of this vehicle. I will delight in the fact that we no longer have to put Oscar, Poppy and Smiley on the back seat of the wagon. I will delight in the CD player, temperature control between driver and passenger side (Rick is always warm...Me freezing!), the bucket seats that put my two kids a little further away from each other, and space. But, I still see myself in my CUTE wagon with my bike rack on top and my trailer/stroller in the back...I still see us able to pack the car completely full and head to the Ocean! Now, I'm a mere lemming of sorts... I'm now expanding into a whole new phase of motherhood! I'm going to have to think of a way to define this vehicle as my own...Any good suggestions? In the meantime I will attempt to adjust my image and rejoice in our new, more spacious and comfortable vehicle.
Such is Life! Happy trails!

Journey of the Mayflower...

This week I'm the joy school mom and so in light of the up-coming week we took a journey on the Mayflower...Pilgrim Poppy decided to try on her mommy's bonnet and Oscar today took a little journey of his own. He frequently re-arranges the household furniture to facilitate his journey on various boats.
After checking out a book called "Peggony-Po: A Whale of a Tale" (the book was a about a little wooden boy who captures this whale called Cetus. The Whale had eaten the leg of his dad, the carver who created him.) Oscar told me that he wouldn't be afraid of whales and when he gets big and rides them he will be able to catch lots of them.
This is a boy who LOVES the ocean! Every night he has me sing him a song about our dog smiley running to the ocean and we drive there and find him and then we camp for four days on the beach and then we drive home and the next time we go back in a helicopter and we jump from the helicopter onto the beach and then we camp for four more months and then we drive home and smiley wants to come with us! ( I know this is a run-on but for real Oscar telling effect read it as though it is all one big sentence or song!) Then make up a tune to it. This is how a typical day goes for our son the boy who likes to check out into imaginary world!
One last thing before I go. The Picture of him in his sweater and PJ's was this morning. We found him checking out his dad's tileing work and when we asked why he had a sweater on he said "I was cold" this wouldn't be so funny but his pj's were the super warm type and we figured out that he put them on last night when he got up to play in his room without our knowledge!
What a fun little boy full of imagination and wonder!

For the next post you can look forward to hearing about Oscar and smiley's debut at the stake talent show tomorrow night. Oscar with the Accordion and smiley with the HOWL!

Imaginary World

Each day there comes a delightful time called "quiet time"(This being defined as: Poppy takes a nap and Oscar checks in to imaginary world). This is the time period where, as a mother, I regroup for the remaining hours of wakefulness left in the day.
I suppose I even Drift off into imaginary world...as I Imagine that my jobs (chores) are completed...or I imagine that it is sunny and warm outside, when actually it's 45 degrees and the wind is blowing at 45mph (I have a wind indicator, courtesy of previous owner).
Oscar truly is the master of the imaginary world!! If I want him to entertain himself, I only need ask that he "clean up" the play room. In a matter of minutes he has checked out into the deep beyond and will entertain himself for quite sometime! I think this is where he develops his extensive imaginary world vocabulary (i.e. Stoach).
Humm...how would it be to just check out of reality and into a world where you create your own language, make your own rules, and you always turn out the hero! Sounds pretty good!
Now, I'll go back to mediating poppy/oscar teasing. Real world here I come!

"Action" Acrobatics

Edge terminology

We have now arrived at a point where it becomes important to educate our reading fan base on some of our household terminology. In order to help you clearly understand some of the things we may discuss, here is a list of some Edgeology...
Binky-ing: Verb-the action of placing something soft, and/or fuzzy between the thumb and first two fingers and rubbing together in order to soothe oneself to sleep. This may happen spontaneously when presented with something very soft..Such as Rick binky-ing the back of Poppy's head with his nose while holding her. (I've included a few pics of binky-ing to illustrate my point.) Poppy binky's her hair, Oscar binky's his blanket ties. Rick binky's his own hair, Poppy's, or Oscar's(but only when he's thinking) :o) I'm not a binky-er but I like to sniff Poppy's soft hair.
Stoach: Oscar word...Not quite sure what it's origin is. He usually uses it as a noun for a weapon of sorts.
Action: "Are you ready for this action"(oscar's use of the word) He also uses this word to indicate he wants to rough- house with his dad..."Dad let's do some action".

To save space I'll limit my list to these three but I'll be sure to add more later. Now I'll include a pic of Oscar and Ricks "action" acrobatics

Binky-ing

Oscar Binky-ing...
Binky-ing...Poppy
Poppy's ...Piggy's

Oatmunchers claptrap...

Well, Rick has developed his own BLOG! And I'm sure you guessed the name(see blog title). He's always the original one. Me...I am what I am. He and I just took a Star trek personality test and I was likened to Chakotay!!! I was hoping to match up with seven of nine or captain Janeway but evidentially I'm more of the loving, caring, feeler type. My code was Introvert, Sensor, Feeler, Judger. I was pleased to discover that my opposite was Nelix!!! Here's the link to my result http://scifi.about.com/library/weekly/aa080201z.htm
Rick on the other hand got the prized position! He was a Captain kirk, Seven of nine combo! His code was Introvert,Intuitive,Thinker, Judger. On the job suggestions, it actually said "Intellectual property attorney"!!! lol. His opposite was Captain Janeway. Very amusing personality test for a Friday night. If you want to know more about Rick's you'll have to check out his blog... www.oatmunchers.blogspot.com .
I have a great idea for a future blog. I was hoping to have it completed today but I'm lacking the photos for better blog quality. So, I will hold you in suspense of something to come...

Chocolate...Ummm

Inspired by one of the finer things in life...Chocolate. I decided to change my hair color. We can now say that I'm a chocolate head! Does that now mean that I look delicious?

Speaking of chocolate...I was sitting here eating some of the tasty stuff (that I got for my birthday) and noticed on the package that it said: "Chocolate is sacred. There is an art to the alchemy of chocolate, an art we explore with mystery and integrity."(Dagoba organic chocolate) Sounds pretty deep...I"m not really even sure what "alchemy" is??? (Thanks to Wikipedia I have discovered that alchemy"refers to an early form of the investigation of nature and early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, physics, medicine, astrology, metallurgy, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art.") Well that sums it up...GOOD STUFF!!

I think you would only find that sort of depth on the back of "organic" chocolate. Certainly Hershey's and Nestle wouldn't put it on their labels. Their label would read something like this..."Fit for human consumption"..."we do not test on animals".
I'm not a chocolate snob entirely...if there is a bucket of Halloween candy close by, and say there is a Reeses peanut butter cup inside...yeah, well...I'm certainly not going to let it go to waste! I do however, prefer the darker side of the chocolate world and I think that Lindt has the corner on the market.
Enough about my chocolate musings...back to cleaning house! May the force be with you!

It's my birthday!!

It was my Birthday today and Oscar decided to throw me a tea party. This tea party consisted of the following: Water, china, and some year-old candy canes. It was delicious!

Poppy enjoyed the candy cane immensely. She has developed quite the sweet tooth. During the Halloween party she could be found racing to any unattended bucket of candy. She also knows where we have placed Oscar's Halloween stash and she will grunt and point in it's direction (she has very strong non-verbal communication skills). I guess the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree! Candy anyone?

Rick and Oscar went birthday shopping at lunch today and came home with some down booties, chocolate, and cheese! Three of my favorite things...something cozy, chocolate and cheese. Life is good!