Words.

As I was making a huge pot of penne pasta for lunch today, I went to get the colander out of the cupboard so that I could drain the water from the pasta, when I oddly remembered the funny memory that I used to call colanders "strainers". That is what my mom called them, and so I grew up calling them strainers.

Then I went to college and my roommates laughed at me because I didn't know the true name of this particular kitchen accessory.

I then started to think about all the funny words my family used while growing up (that I got teased about later in my adult life). Usually substitution words.

Here is a short list:

Footstool. I now know they are called "ottomans".

Blaster. That thing you point at the TV to change the channels, otherwise known as a "remote control".

Air bubbles. You know...instead of toots, or farts (sorry mom).

Parmesian Cheese. It's really Parmasan cheese.

Pick Up. Instead of Truck.

Strainer. Technically it's a colander. But strainer also referred to a dish rack as well.

No. 2. We never said poop. For reals.

Draining Board. Instead of countertops.

Tennis Shoes. Any shoe that wasn't a Sunday dress shoe.

Mush. Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal.

Those are just a few off the top of my head. To this day, I still don't get the "draining board" thing.

Ducks, Babies, and Birds.

We've had lots of fun lately.

Dad has gone back to work, and so this means while the cat is away...the mice will play.

Preston and I have been trying to get outside to enjoy the nice weather we've had every day. It has felt like Spring time!

We went to the lake to see the ducks...

I couldn't quite get Preston to feed the bread to the ducks. Instead, he fed himself.

Then, on Friday, we got to watch a cute little niece named Gwenevere while her parents had a night out on the town.

Meal times were quite comical.

And this is how it was done:

It was like watching little birds chirping at the mama bird waiting for food to be dropped into their mouths. Who knew these kiddos loved mac'n'cheese THAT much.

And...

On Saturday, we returned little Gwenevere to her parents, and then they watched Preston for us so that we could go do our...

We had planned to do this little race back before I was pregnant, and decided that we would still do it as long as I was feeling up to it.

I was.

It was an orienteering race. That means you get a map and you have to go around and find all these hidden checkpoints.

When we were registering for the race, there were 7 different courses that you could do, all ranging from easy to hard. Will asked me which one I wanted to do, and being that all the courses were listed in kilometers, and being the complete math idiot I am...I couldn't figure out the kilometers to miles translation in my head and so I just said "I don't know, what do YOU think we should do?"

"We'll take course number 7 please!", Will says.

The longest one of course. 18 checkpoints in all.

We did great though. We won first prize for last place. :) We made a pretty good team though. While Will usually trudges off into the bushes trying to find the markers, I am more logical about where they would be placed. Together, we were able to find them more easily. We got 17 out of 18 markers, hiked more than 5 hilly miles, and were seriously the last ones to the finish line.

Aside from having to detour once to find an outhouse, and me gracing the woods twice with likewise "bathroom" trips, It was fun. Though, I probably won't be doing another adventure race for quite a while. Will was so stoked I actually did one with him that he was telling me about these races that are 24 hours long and you have to find your markers in the dark and stuff. Whew. Baby steps, baby steps.

The video below is an exciting depictment of breakfast Saturday morning with the two little baby birds.

Our Favorite Place

Everyone has a happy place. Our's is the Olympic Peninsula.

It had been since August since our last trip. Will just started a new job last week. It was Saturday. We just needed to get away. And we did.

So what if it was sort of raining in Seattle and it was a brisk 38 degrees.

Nobody seemed to mind.

And then once we reached the peninsuula, we pleasantly found ourselves under clear skies and sunshine. The ocean was deep blue, the clouds were white and puffy, and the sun was sparkling like none other.

(by the way, this little photo above was taken at the Worldmark Resort where the Thomas Family Reunion is going to be this summer...for any Thomas' Family members wanting to get a little glimpse into the scenery)

The funny part of our day is, is that we brought the baby backpack to go hiking.

We never went hiking.

We brought the stroller to go on a walk. We never went on a walk.

We did do lots of sight-seeing, looking at maps, chasing sunshine whereever it was, and um...we spent 2 hours at the Sequim Costco, which was surprisingly relaxing compared to shopping at the Issaquah Costco.

But still, it was an adventure and it was FUN.

Until the next adventure...

A Confession and an Announcement

I have a serious confession to make.

I'm not really a blonde. I'm a natural born redhead. Okay, actually, natural born strawberry blonde.

My mother has red hair. My Grandfather had red hair. My Great-Grandfather had red hair, and even 3 more generations up had red hair. Our son Preston has red hair. My younger brother has red hair.

I have been putting blonde highlights in my hair since...hmmm...

(You know it's been a while when you can't remember).

Well, I'm here to tell you that the last time I put blonde highlights in my hair was last June. I remember because it was right before we went on a 3 day camping trip over to the Olympic Peninsula and my hair looked particularly light and summery in all of those pictures (as seen below).

Here is me today:

That is my natural color. At least, the first 5 inches of it.

It's getting to the point where I either need to do an all over dye to bring it all back to strawberry blonde, or I need to put more blonde hightlights in it.

But I can't. I won't.

I'm stuck with roots for the time being because...

Surprise! It's our Christmas surprise baby! (we found out Dec 10th)

And there you are.

A very good reason why one should avoid using hair dye and why I now have 5 inch roots of red hair.

And as for the rest of this story...I will entertain you with another time.

Baby #2 is due August 20th. You can follow my pregnancy journal on The Belly Diaries for all the nitty gritty female info.

A Thomas Family Christmas Video

Better late than never... :)

Oh, and the little greeting at the beginning...Preston was way way WAY tired (it was like 10pm), which is why he is very off in la-la land during that part.

Christmas Part 2: Christmas Morning

In case I failed to mention earlier...

A certain someone took a certain liking to Grandpa's chair over the holidays.

In fact, if Grandpa was sitting in Grandpa's chair, this certain someone would come over to him and stand right in front of him and say in the sweetest little voice, "Chair?....Chair?".

Grandpa of course thought that it meant Preston wanted to sit on Grandpa's lap on the chair.

No siree, Grandpa.

What it really meant was Preston wanted Grandpa to get up and out of his chair so that Preston could sit in it all by himself.

Grandpa booted. Preston king of the chair.

Next was Christmas morning...

Preston got his very own basketball hoop for Christmas this year, to complete his obsession with anything round, ball-ish or resembling a circle.

He now has his own "ball ball".

I betcha didn't know you could throw stuffed dogs through basketball hoops too, didya?

Preston also got plenty of matchbox cars, tiny miniature balls, and I think we counted 3 dumptrucks.

It was such a boy's Christmas.

Mommy got to read the entire Twilight series over Christmas break (even though she swore she would never read those books), which made her dream of vampires almost nightly.

At least they were attractive looking vampires, right?

And Preston got to read many books in Grandpa's chair as well. With da blankie.

Did we mention that Preston has a favorite blanket and must sleep with it every night and if you try to exchange it for a different blanket it will get thrown out of the crib with a big "Nooooo" in protest?

(Favorite blankie pictured above, on favorite Grandpa chair).

And that's all for our Christmas photos! Now for 2010!