Hoodie-Hoo

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We discovered that we were being scammed today through Craigslist. We are looking for new tenants to rent our basement because our current tenants have bought a house. We posted our ad on Craigslist and got a response from someone supposedly from Scotland. It was fishy. We did a little digging with the information he gave us and found him online on a website made by people who have been scammed by him. It had all of his various aliases and emails (almost word for word like the ones he sent us) and complaints from his "victims". Whew, dodged that one. So we posted our own stuff with his new name and angle so other people would be able to dodge some trouble, too. And we reported him. We knew it was fishy because he offered to pay a full year's rent up front and his English/ sentence structure was weird...not like you would expect a Scottish business man in his late thirties to write. So, for those of you that use Craiglist (or any online service like Craigslist), watch out. You might be getting scammed. On to happier things (like play-dough):

I introduced Addie to play-dough yesterday. Don't worry, it was edible...not tasty, but edible. She wasn't sure about it at first, but she warmed up to it after a few minutes. She had so much fun she had to take a long nap afterward. We got the bib at Ikea and its fabulous! She can get as messy as she wants and her clothes will still stay clean!

We had a great Valentine's Day. Jason gave me the beautiful flowers and planter, I gave him the "Love Roll", which is a little thing I'm pretty sure I made up. I filled it with confetti, a million strips of paper with things I love about him on each one, and some sugared almonds to eat while reading nice things about himself. You just pull on the ends and out comes a party! We went to Ikea, then to Applebee's for lunch, and then home for a movie and a fire. It was an enjoyable day! Jason got his burger for free because the cheese still had paper on it, which was a nice bonus (the free burger, not the paper).

Addie went swimming for the first time and liked it. Jason's family came to town a few weekends ago and they stayed in a hotel with a pool. We all went swimming and had a good time. Unfortunately, photos at swimming pools don't turn out so great. This is the only one with recognizable humans in it. Uncle Eric took her on an exciting dolphin ride, but we have no clear photographic evidence of it. I could just be making it up.

She then got sick for the first time and didn't like it. The poor kid had a fever, a runny nose and a cough. And for about a week, too. It was an adult-sized cold but in a little 17lb body.

I had to wipe her sad little nose about every thirty seconds because she would sneeze and the above would happen. Every time. I had no idea such a little nose was capable of so much snot.

My daffodils are peeking out to see if its warm enough to bloom. Its not, but hopefully they'll come out anyway.

Addie learned this new face and she does it all the time. She likes to couple this look with some extreme sniffing. What little baby does that? Where did she come from? Oh, yeah, Jason.

And one last thing: Friday is Hoodie-Hoo Day. (I hyper-linked it case no one believes me. Go ahead, click on it if you think this is all bologna. And if you think I made up the spelling of the last word in the last sentence, you can look that up too. Just click here: I'm an Unbeliever.)
Here's the info on how to celebrate it (Hoodie-Hoo Day, not bologna. Just trying to keep it all straight.):

"On this winter day, people go out at noon, wave their hands over their heads and chant "Hoodie-Hoo". It chases winter away so that spring will come. "

Just try it, what have you got to lose (besides your neighbor's respect)? We are celebrating Hoodie-Hoo Day by going to Florida. Yep, we'll be gone for a week. While you guys are shoveling snow off your cars and wearing heavy jackets, we will be dusting warm sand off our backs and wearing swimsuits.

Hoodie-Hoo!

Addie's First Valentine's Present

Addie got her first letter in the mail a few days ago. It was from Grandpa Utley and "Happy Valentine's Day" was written on the front with a little heart and arrow.

She opened it...

...and what she saw made her grin like a pirate.

It was a pearl bracelet! (This explains why she grinned like a pirate,
because pirates love treasure.)

She put it on (with some help) and couldn't believe how good she looked! Thanks Grandpa Utley! It's beautiful! What a lucky little girl to have such a sweet grandpa!

A Date with Danger

This post is a longie. You may want to take a moment to go to the bathroom, grab something to eat, and make yourself comfy.

Jason and I went on a date last Friday while my brother, Steve, babysat Addie. It was his Christmas present to us, complete with gift cards for a movie and dinner. We were really excited for this date because it had been quite awhile since our last baby-less date. We saw "Taken", which is a movie about someone's daughter being kidnapped for trafficking purposes. I know, kind of an odd choice for parents who have just left their daughter at home, but it was a good movie (in a high-action, good prevails sort of way. Not a real cheery, rent-for-the-kids'-birthday-party kind of movie, though.) Heck, I'll even admit that I cried.

Afterwards we decided to grab some dinner. We went to IHOP because we had a coupon that was expiring the next day and because we were close to one. We should have used the card for Chile's that my brother gave us. Jason ordered something that came with a surprise layer of bananas (he doesn't like bananas) and his eggs were cold. My sandwich wasn't too bad, but my fries were cold and mushy. We both felt icky and had stomach aches before we even left. As we were exiting the parking lot we realized we needed some gas in our car and quick. A few minutes later, before reaching a gas station, we ran out of gas.

So, Jason got out and ran over to Costco (because we across the street from one) to ask for a gas jug. The station there didn't have one so they sent him inside to the service center to ask for one. They didn't have one either. He ran back to the car and then decided to run over to Sam's Club to ask for a jug. Same thing. He came back (now completely out of breath and with the IHOP throwing a fit in his innards) and decided we would have to push the car to the next block where there was a Maverick. At this point, quite a few people stopped to ask if we needed help, and at first Jason declined their assistance.Then, after having pushed the car a few yards with me inside steering and realizing that this would take forever on our own, we had a guy help us. This guy's wife drove down to the gas station in their car and then came back to help push. By the time we got there, everyone was huffing and gasping from the cold air and the extreme exertion (except me, I just had some gut pain from IHOP) and threatening to puke. Especially Jason, who may have actually puked because he went into the bathroom and didn't come out for a little while. I filled up the tank while imagining the cups of hot beverage we were going to have when we got home. Then a couple who had stopped earlier pulled up and gave me a gas jug with gasoline in it that they had just bought for us. I thought it was incredibly nice. It makes me feel good to know that there are so many people out there with kind hearts that are willing to help out strangers (pause to wipe away small tear).

Jason came back out, looking quite ill. I hopped in the driver's seat to drive us home. I turned the key and nothing but the sound of sssppuuttterrinng reached my ears. A few more tries yielded the same pathetic results. Our battery had died. We asked the guy next to us if he would give us a jump with is huge Astro Van. He was quite nice and obliged us. By the time were we actually on the way home it had been a total of an hour and a half since we left IHOP, although the meal was still fresh in our minds and sour in our bellies as if it had only been a few minutes since. We were happy as geese to get home. Addie was in her pajamas and a clean diaper with a little bit of cereal in her belly and a toy in her hand. She probably didn't even know we were gone. All in all, it was quite a date.

Later, while laying in bed, we laughed about it and started remembering all the other memorable adventures we've had: hiding from cops in the dark in some bushes at a golf course wearing only swimming suits; night time mosquito attack on the beach on our honeymoon; really awful, punishing, miserable, four hour anniversary hike up a completely vertical mountainside;the all-nighter with our fussy,gassy, poop-shooting newborn baby; oh, it goes on and on... Life is good, and it's nice to have someone like Jason to share it all with.

And about the title, I know it was misleading. There was little to no danger on this date, I just thought it made a cool title.