Like Taking a Camera From a Baby...

I love the cinematography. You get stunning views of our floors and Liesel's feet. Fabulous!

Too Cute Not to Post

Liesel likes to sit on our laps while Whitney and I do our makeup. She watches...

And then tries a look of her own...
It's SO cute! This morning she was honest to goodness putting blush on her cheeks while I primped for work.

Of course, she doesn't need any makeup. She's adorable just as she is. Welllllll, maybe she could use some eyebrow definition.

Just kidding!

LOL

My very wise brother-in-law Matthew once told me there are layers of humor. The highest form manifests itself in wit which requires a wide range of knowledge on different subjects, the talent for subtlety and an almost esoteric mindset. This is the humor of the educated, the elite, the Mensa-type people. It's caviar-type humor.

The next layer comes with the ability for stories, one-liners, and the more obvious commentary on ironic situations. The humor of the people if you will. Most people like, tell and subscribe to this type of humor. Kind of like Applebees or Olive Garden.

The lowest layer consists of slap-stick comedy, corny knock-knock jokes, blonde jokes, "There's a Jewish rabbi, Catholic priest and Mormon bishop on a..." jokes, etc. This is the Burger King of humor. It doesn't take much intelligence or insight. Anyone can get it although it may garner rolled eyes rather than belly laughs. Why don't blind people go skydiving? Because it scares the dog. Get it? Get it? I think you know what I mean.



While Matthew is of course very witty, I have to confess that I'm among the Neanderthals which falls in that last group. After a looooong week, I love nothing more than to heat up a cheesy pizza, turn on the TV/DVR and watch the latest episode of Wipeout. No matter how frustrating, tiring or irritating the events of my day have been I find myself laughing so hard I can barely talk. Oh how I love those big, red, rubbery balls! I cannot get enough of watching people gingerly jump on to them only to bounce off into the water. The best ones involve "The Motivator" which pushes them from behind. Not that I'm entirely sadistic, I've cheered the 3 times I've seen someone manage to bounce on top of them and make it to the platform on the other side.

A Little Anime

My sister Whitney recently posed this question to me: Who is your animation crush? Initially I was really thrown... how can you have a crush on a cartoon? But then she went on to describe her crush on Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid. She went on and on about his dark hair, rippling muscles and the Old English Sheepdog sidekick. So I thought about it and thought about it. My anime-man would likely be a Disney prince - classy yet timeless.

I have to hand it to Prince Charming. Any guy who understands the connection between shoes and true love is definitely a keeper. The only problem is that all he ever did was dance with Cinderella and then send his lackeys to work overtime to find her. I'm a girl who wants someone to FIGHT for me and Prince Charming isn't it. (Side note: have you ever noticed that he's never actually called Prince "Charming" in the movie?) Come to think of it though, Cinderella doesn't do much either. Her fairy godmother, the mice and the birds do the grunt work. She just kind of cries and acts helpless. So I guess they're a pretty good pair and I wouldn't want to break that up. Man oh man does my father in law typify Cinderella's father in law though! I swear he does nothing but dream of grandchildren.

I'm leaning a little more towards Aladdin. I love traveling and that magic carpet ride date was pretty dang sweet. He's kind of a social climber which bugs me a little but I guess that means he's ambitious which is important. I love that he had street smarts and was kind to animals. Plus Jasmine had hips and he seemed to go for that. Aladdin also had a sense of humor which is so very important in a relationship. So yeah, I definitely like Aladdin but that's based more on personality than looks. To be honest though, I haven't really found my animation crush yet. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. I'm sure he's out there... somewhere... probably in Asia hanging out with the totally wrong cartoon girl... like Hello Kitty or someone like that. Perhaps someday our paths will cross and then I'll just know he's the one.

Interestingly enough, when Whitney posed the same question to Brent he didn't even hesitate: Minmei from Robotech. No wonder he was all for me getting bangs. Living the fantasy?

Okay 3 people who read my blog, who's your animation crush? If it's a secret shame feel free to leave your comment anonymous... I won't judge.

My Fellow Americans

On our first 4th of July together, Brent and I announced our engagement to our parents and then snuggled under a sky of fireworks on the Cambridge side of the Charles River. We were in NYC on vacation for our second 4th and elected to avoid the crowds by skipping the fireworks. It was incredibly eerie walking the quiet and empty streets of Manhattan while hearing loud booms in the distance. The following 4th we took our then 3-month old girl to New Jersey to visit my parents. We watched the fireworks at Liberty Park close to the Statue of Liberty. So it feels like we're coming full circle by being back in Boston for this 4th.

Brent and I had work off yesterday so we were able to take care of all our Saturday items. This morning I ran some final errands and Brent mowed the lawn. We thought about going to some batting cages (what could be more American than baseball?) but they were all closed. Once Liesel woke up from her nap, we packed up the stroller and headed downtown. Don't ask me why, but I had a feeling I'd get a good parking spot and we did! We crossed the street to the Boston Commons and stopped at the Frog Pond so Liesel could get her feet wet. She was so funny, she'd walk towards the water and then run away when the fountains came on.

Then we headed to the Freedom Trail. I work kitty-corner to the State House so it's not far for me. When I'm able to get away for lunch every now and again I'll do what I can that's close. Brent, on the other hand, had never officially done it. One place I'd never made it to was the Granary Burial Ground. There were lots of people dressed in period costume giving tours but Liesel and I wandered on our own to see the graves of Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock and the victims of the Boston Massacre. Very cool. There was a wedding at the next-door Park Street Church and the newly married couple was taking photos IN the graveyard. Weird?

We headed home to barbeque like good Americans. Brent and I found a recipe for a Dr. Pepper marinade that's SO good! We've slowly been refining our technique and the result is a juicy, tangy, VERY tender meat. While Brent fired up the grill I put on some Aaron Copeland. Somehow we had a plethora of lemons so I made lemonade Stonewall Jackson style which is more on the tart side. Surprisingly, Liesel was the biggest fan. We also had corn on the cob (in honor of America's heartland, IOWA!). Again, Liesel was a surprisingly huge fan. She was begging for it before we'd even said the blessing and then she went to town. We rounded it out with some rice pilaf (uhmmmm, in honor of the Chinese who gave us fireworks? and because it goes well with the meat). Using pound cake, Cool Whip, strawberries and blueberries I made an image of a flag that was nice and light after the barbecue.

Liesel's been having nightmares lately and generally having trouble sleeping at night. Because of that we decided to skip the jarring loud noises that accompany fireworks. Before putting her down for the night I read her Longfellow's The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Right now we're winding down by watching the Boston Pops and just waiting for Neil Diamond (the featured performer this year) to sing Sweet Caroline.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

A Bad Case of the Gimmes

I've been meaning to get some video of Liesel when she's chattering because it's so adorable. When I pulled out my camera I remembered why I hadn't done it up to now- she always grabs for the camera. I thought if I gave her another equally exciting electronic she'd be set. WRONG! You'd probably agree my first attempt to capture the chatter failed miserably:



Take Two was much better. It still doesn't quite capture exactly how chatty she gets, but close enough. Call me crazy, but I think she knew she was being filmed.


Not that she's always such a handful. Liesel's usually a really good little girl. She can play happily on her own and now she's going through a phase where she likes to "help." If we leave a room, she's happy to turn off the light switch for us. She loves sitting on top of the dryer and helping me put the dirty clothes into the washer.When we finish loading the dishwasher she wants to help us close the door. She's normally a complete sweetheart. On Sunday she looked freakishly adorable and somehow she looked even more so in Brent's arms.

But she still hates the beret. Brent is holding her hands so she can't pull it off. I think somehow even the crying makes it cuter! Am I totally biased?

Bummer

It was about 8 PM when I was checking out Brent's bootie (I do this on a regular basis) that I noticed this:Brent is unsure of when or more importantly HOW it happened. It's not like it's subtle either, he really ripped his pants! After examining the damage I sadly told him it was beyond repair. It's like the fabric stretched and then separated because it's completely shredded.

Even after carefully reviewing his day Brent couldn't remember sitting on anything that could have caused it and didn't remember hearing a tear. He assures me his co-workers are the kind of people who would have pointed it out to him to keep him from embarassing himself. Brent added that most of the day he's been wearing his black leather jacket which covers it. I dunno, the thought of my husbands cheeks hanging out all over Boston still kinda bothers me... Apparently not enough to blog about it though :) Be sure to take the poll!

Scooper Bowl

There's no doubt about it, the Wuehler family LOVES ice cream! It was the first food item we moved into our freezer. It was among the first solids Liesel really enjoyed. It's no wonder we were eagerly looking forward to the Jimmy Fund's Annual Scooper Bowl last week.

In our humble opinion, the Scooper Bowl ranks up there with winning the lottery. We paid our flat fee of $8 per person, collected our spoons and headed off to the tents of cool deliciousness. Haagan-Dazs, Brighams, Ben & Jerry's, Baskin Robins, Hood, Garelick, Edy's, Breyers and a new favorite Spasso Gelato all had cups with tiny scoops of well, different flavors of heaven.

Liesel's young enough to get in for free but she ended up eating enough ice cream for a regular person. Brent had her in the Snugli and if he didn't give her ample shares of whatever he was eating she was sure to let him know about it. This was also Whitney's first Scooper Bowl and she was appropriately impressed. We walked away with the best of sugar highs. I wish I could say we do it for the good cause but the truth is we just do it for the ice cream.

My Little Tadpole

Despite my newfound low body image drummed up by a pornographic video Liesel managed to take of me with my cell phone (not a bloggable story, call me if you really want to know), I stuffed myself into a swimsuit Friday night and headed to the pool with my family. Liesel has been taking a Mommy/Nanny & Me swim class with Whitney this summer and recently has made some serious progress. We'd all had a tense few days and it was exactly what the family needed.

Before we even reached the pool, Liesel started kicking her legs and squealing. She was SO cute as she played with the beach balls and pushed Brent underwater. Liesel loved the slide and playing Humpty Dumpty. Whitney tells me she can sit Liesel on the edge of the pool and when she gets to "had a great fall" Liesel will push herself off the wall into the water. Sorry, but I think that's pretty dang cool. When Liesel gets really excited she just squeals and screams and there was plenty of that too. Sadly the family swim hours are changing from Friday to Thursday nights for the summer which is when we have our Addiction Recovery Group. With the swim lessons over, Whitney has promised to take Liesel to the beach to make up for it though.

As much as I love, love, LOVE Liesel's butterfly swimsuit with the fluttery straps and matching sunglasses, Gymboree has a new strawberry one. How freakishly adorable would my little strawberry blonde look in this? It's not only on sale, but an extra 30% off. Oh how tempting that is!!! But the pragmatic side of me says she already HAS a swimsuit, this one only goes up to 18-24 mo so by next year she'll have outgrown it. Even on sale I don't need to be spending money when we're paying off the last of the AZ house expenses. Truthfully, I'd much rather be debt free than almost anything in this whole world and this is a want, not a need. Not to mention the fact our landlord just notified us she's raising rent by $50. *huge dramatic sigh* I guess I'll just PICTURE her in it :)

Baaa Baaa Baaa Ram

Liesel's been particularly chatty lately. I know she has something to tell us, but I can't understand much yet. When we're in the kitchen prepping dinner or doing dishes she'll bust out in a very loud, "BABABABABABABABA!!!!" It's so cute. It reminded me of a well-known song by the Beach Boys so I started singing it to her and she'd get a toothy grin and bop up and down to my off-key music. I decided to just download it from iTunes rather than assault her poor, innocent ears. Imagine my surprise when I couldn't find it under Baa Baa Ram. Or even Bob Bob A Ran. Finally I did a google search using the few lyrics I was confident were in the song. Turns out it's called "Barbara Ann". Waaaaaa???? All this time I thought the song was about sheep and a ram. Okay, I realize that doesn't make much sense (especially given the verse about taking a chance at a dance) but this came from a generation who produced a whole song about a lollipop. Or IS it about a lollipop.... now I'm starting to wonder. But I digress. I downloaded "Barbara Ann" and listened carefully and I STILL can't hear that name anywhere in there. However, I can now hear the "Tried Betty Sue" which I thought was "Dried Petting Zoo" so I guess the song really is about a girl named Barbara Ann.

What songs have you misheard the lyrics on? Aerosmith and Michael Jackson always throw me off. They could be saying anything in their songs and I still wouldn't understand.