i give up

what i ate for breakfast today

today i ate a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch cereal for breakfast. i also drank a cup of water. i took nora to swim class, then stopped by chick-fil-a afterwards for a free chick'n'biscuit sandwich (pretty tasty) so i guess that was a mid-morning snack. but they gave one to nora, too so since she wouldn't eat it, i ended up eating 2 chick'n'biscuit sandwiches. and 2 bites of nora's ice cream (a treat for finishing swim class) and 2 little cinnamon twists. in other words, i'm a pig and have eaten enough fat today for the whole family.

now it's your turn. yes, i'm desperate to hear from you.

where are you?

christa, chelsea, cheryl, rachel, ashley.... where are you?????

by the way, i've also sent invitations to kevin, rosie, stephanie, and joe but none of them ever joined us. i don't have anyone else's email address so alexandria, if you email me with melissa's and your mama's, i'll invite them too.

in the meantime, i need to hear from you guys more. tell me what you ate for breakfast today. i'll do the same.

gorgeous grandma

happy gorgeous grandma day! apparently july 23 is the day we celebrate all the gorgeous grandmas in our lives and so, here's a little shout out to grandma judy and grandma cheryl... the gorgeous grandma twins.

FOUND

i am relieved to announce the retrieval of the macaroni and cheese. apparently i looked in the wrong cupboard because it was, in fact, inside a cupboard. the old tupperware cupboard, to be precise. it was found only a couple of days after it's disappearance and fortunately did not cause too much of a odorous disturbance during those 2 days.

while here, i might announce a few other food items that have recently been found inside the bolander home:

1. a partially-eaten peanut butter sandwich on the floor of the coat closet
2. a half-eaten plum on the bathroom counter
3. a carton of blueberry yogurt in the toy car in the garage
4. a mostly-empty cup of milk behind the pantry
5. a mostly-empty bottle of formula wedged between the crib and the wall
6. a block of mozarella cheese with a large chunk missing and teethmarks imprinted on the edge in the hand of my daughter

what will be next?

oh where oh where can it be...

where oh where has the macaroni gone,
where oh where can it be?
i've looked in the fridge, the cupboard, downstairs...
oh bother. won't you help me?

we have a missing bowl of macaroni. it disappeared sometime around 1pm on wednesday and has not yet been found. if anyone has any information leading to the retrieval of this bowl of macaroni, please comment.

book suggestions

hey there my family who never posts on this blog.

i am thinking about starting a book club and am trying to gather suggestions for good books to read. does anyone have any book suggestions/favorite books/thought-provoking books/fun group books? the more ideas the better... even if i don't use them in the club, i'll read them on my own.

busy bolanders

i've decided that cleaning my house is just a big waste of time. everytime i'm trying to clean one room, nora is messing up another. instead of cleaning, i've decided to fill my days with adventures.

saturday we went downtown to the berry and dairy festival at this cool market area (called North Market...) and ate some of the yummiest ice cream i've ever tasted. i got the blueberry lavendar flavor. brett got lime cardemom. nora got white.

after church on sunday, we went for a drive in the country.

monday we went swimming at my friend's condo pool and nora made a new friend. normallly she's very shy around other kids, but she bonded with this girl (ally) really quickly. when we were leaving she said "mom, can ally ride in my carseat sometime?" so i figured we'd better give her our phone number.

tuesday we went to the park and had a picnic, then we babysat for a little while at a friend's house. then we went to a puppet show at the library. coincidentally, ally was there. so, after the puppet show nora and ally hung out for a little while. nora kept putting her arm around her, which she only does with one other friend so i was excited to see her making new friends so easily. i've been a bit worried about her social skills because i don't want her to be as shy as i am/was.

yesterday we went to storytime at the library and nora got yet another sticker for her reading chart. that brings her to 6 stickers (6 hours of reading) so she got a prize. she got a book. there was a huge stack to choose from, but she opted for "no, david!" by david shannon. it's pretty great and she's had me read it to her about 20 times so far. in fact i think she's upstairs reading it to herself right now.

brett left on a quick business trip last night and comes home this afternoon. while he was gone i read my book, watered the lawn, and got a little housework done. the best news is that i wasn't nervous when i went to bed like i normally am when he's gone.

today we are supposed to go hiking at a park at 10am but it's 9:30 and nora still hasn't eaten so i don't know if we'll make it. if not, we might just go to the zoo. so exciting, eh?

well i'm glad to see chelsea on here. maybe we can hear from each other a little more often? oh and chelsea, thank you so much for my birthday card!!! you make me feel like a big loser because i never get cards sent to anyone.

any news?

i've been checking this blog daily, waiting for a new post from someone... anyone. i guess it will just have to be me.

i don't have much going on over here in ohio. yesterday we went to the zoo, then to the library to see this kid's musician in concert. nora refused to dance and sing, but i had fun. the zoo is always fun - i just renewed my membership yesterday so we can go whenever we want.

i finished my wonderful book last night and am excited to read The Tipping Point. has anyone read it? i should really stress that i LOVE the book i just read (Seven Types of Ambiguity by Elliott Perlman) so if anyone is looking for a great book to read, check it out. of course it is over 600 pages so make sure you are up for it. it's a pretty quick read, though. i think it took me about 2 1/2 weeks... maybe less.

my poor boy got yet another bruise on his face yesterday. that brings the running total to 4. he has at least 2 on his forehead at all times, and always has one in the same spot. it will start to go away, and then he'll bonk again. poor fellow. he's getting pretty adventurous these days and i'm predicting that he'll be walking within about 6 weeks. we'll see.