All About Brad

A while back when I posted "25 Random Things", Brad was disappointed that he only made my list once. So this post is all about him. I hope I get at least some right!

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? Anything as long as it isn't a commercial.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Italian

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Lima beans

4. You go out to eat and have a drink. He has: Lemonade

5. Where did he go to high school? Bainbridge High School

6. What size shoe does he wear? 9 1/2

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? maybe guns? WWII memorabilia?

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? BBQ pulled pork

9. What would he eat every day if he could? ice cream

10. What is his favorite cereal? maple & brown sugar oatmeal? Apple Jacks? I don't really know. Now that he doesn't eat dairy, he doesn't eat much cereal.

11. What would he never wear? a handkerchief in his breast pocket

12. What is his favorite sports team? Seattle Sounders? not really sure, he isn't a die-hard fan of any.

13. Who did he vote for? He didn't, remember he was an illegal alien...don't worry, he's now a legal permanent resident.

14. Who is his best friend? Hopefully me...best guy friend, Nathan R.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? pass gas in bed (it's so embarrassing, but true!)

16. What is his heritage? Irish

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? dairy free chocolate cake, probably from a Duncan Hienz mix

18. Did he play sports in high school? Yes, soccer & football

19. What could he spend hours doing? working in the garden, napping

20. What is one unique talent he has? bee-keeping; I guess that's more of a hobby than a talent, but it's pretty unique and he's good at it!

OK, Brad, how did I do? I think it's good that after almost 16 years of marriage there are a few things I don't know about my husband. A little mystery is good for a relationship, right?

Should I Be Worried?

Ben was playing with a baby doll this morning.

No, I'm not worried that he was playing with a doll.

I'm worried about HOW he was playing with it.

If he was rocking it, singing to it, feeding it, dressing it or playing house with it, I would not be worried.

He was throwing it up in the air and letting it smack on the ground, throwing it at the wall, swinging it by it's feet and hitting it on the piano, then yelling "Shake it off!" everytime the doll got "hurt".

So I ask, should I be worried? Is he lacking in the sentivity department? Is he going to grow up to be abusive? Or is he just being a little boy?

Welcome, Jane!

Brad's sister, Ashley, had her baby yesterday! Five weeks early! Welcome to the world, Jane (middle name?) Frandsen! She's 5 lbs. 7 oz., one ounce smaller than Kylie was. Ashley says she has some red hair, but I haven't seen any pictures yet.

I read on their blog last week that Ashley had started having pre-term labor at 34 weeks. It was such a flashback for me. The same thing happened with all my pregnancies, but around 28 weeks. It's a scary experience, especially with your first. We went through all the same things: a week in the hospital on Magnesium Sulfate, steroid shots to speed up baby's lung development, constant monitoring, then sent home to bedrest. Then last night we had a message on the phone from Ashley telling us Jane had been born that morning. Her voice sounded so sweet, like a little girl's. Since they're in Hawaii, I don't know how long it will be until we get to meet Jane, but I'm hoping to see some pictures soon.

My sister-in-law, Rachael (Tyler's wife) was due at the same time as Ashley. Hopefully she'll be able to hold on for a few more weeks. As nice as it is to miss the last, horribly uncomfortable weeks of pregnancy, it's so much better for the baby to stay in as long as it can. But not too long!(right Brooke?)

Hot Valentine's Date

Every year for the past four years, we've gotten together with a group of friends to celebrate Valentine's Day. It started out the first year with the husbands planning a special date night as a surprise for the wives. They planned a scavenger hunt in downtown Winslow to give them time to cook a gourmet dinner. After dinner a "professional" photographer (my brother, Tyler, who was in photography school at the time) took pictures of each couple. Then we sat around the fire and read poetry from a book that the wives picked out on the scavenger hunt. It was verses from love songs like "Tainted Love" and "You Give Love a Bad Name". I wish I could remember the title of the book; it was pretty funny!

The next year it was the wives' turn and we planned a "Not So Newlywed Game". Then back to the husbands; they hired my professional chef brother-in-law, Tad Mitsui, to cook dinner for us and "borrowed" a friend's house who was out of town for us to dine in. Last year, the wives put together tributes to their husbands in video or photo format.


This year it was the husbands' turn again. They took us to Jazz Alley in Seattle for a delicious dinner and wonderful entertainment provided by Mindi Abair. I'm not usually a jazz fan, but I really enjoyed this show. Brad has a new "man crush" on her bass guitarit, Andre Berry (sorry, Ralph!)

After the show, we rode back to the ferry and while we waited, re-lived the 80s thanks to Margit's awesome i-pod selections. Some of our all time favorites: The Police, The Smiths, Erasure, Yaz, Alphaville, English Beat, DePeche Mode, Duran Duran, OMD...

How Blogging Has Made Me a Better Mother

This evening, after I had spent five hours cleaning other people's houses, over an hour making dinner, and returned from running Jillian to her art class that she reminded me of one minute before it started, my handsome, loving, helpful 15 year old son was carrying our delicious chicken-pot-pie dinner to the table and dropped it FACE DOWN on the floor (that was covered with dog hair because I didn't clean my house today). Instead of yelling, screaming, crying, or running to my room and locking myself in, I sighed and thought, "Oh well, now I have something to blog about." And when Kylie and Ben looked at our dinner all over the floor and decided there was enough of it that wasn't actually touching the floor so it should be OK to eat, I started laughing and ran for the camera.

And just so you know, we have an amazing dog. He didn't touch a bit of the food until Kylie and Ben were done and we told him it was OK.

Rock On!

You know that Rock Bank or Guitar Hero game you bought for your kids? Well, we decided it was time for the grown-ups to get in on the action! Last night we went to a Rock Star party at our friend's house. It was quite the star-studded event!

Everyone from Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus...

to the daughter of Cyndi Lauper & Boy George with her rockin' date...

the Robert Palmer dancer and her handsome escort..

a grunge queen and king...

several groupies...

and lounge singers...wait a minute, who invited them?

Chantal was having way too much fun!

Our girl band was smokin'...

But nothing was hotter than Ralph & his boys!

Nya's Baptism

Our friend's daughter, Nya, was baptized a few weeks ago...in the Puget Sound! She and Kylie share the same birthday, January 19. They have similar personalities; both are very smart, determined, stubborn, not afraid to say what's on their mind, and love to do crazy things! I'm convinced that people born on January 19 are very special.

Lilian, Nya's mom, told us that Nya was determined to be baptized in the Puget Sound. She wouldn't listen to suggestions that she put it off until it was "warmer" in June or July. She said, "The Spirit will keep me warm." And it did. Nya didn't even flinch when she stepped into the freezing cold water. The Spirit kept all of us who were watching warm, too.

We've known Nya since she was a baby. She took her first steps in our living room. She calls Brad and I "papa Brad" and "mama Jenny". Granted, she has several "papas" and "mamas" on Bainbridge Island. She's an amazing girl and so many people love her.

After the baptism, we had dinner at our house with Lilian, Nya, the Reynolds family (Ryan baptized Nya) and the Nakeas. The Reynolds hold a special place in our hearts, too. We used to get together and play wild games of Rook late into the night, one of which ended with panty-hose clad Brad and Ryan buying Preparation-H at Safeway at 11:00 at night. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of that!

Lilian made this amazing black forest cake to celebrate Kylie and Nya's birthday. (8 plus 13 equals 21, if you're wondering why there's a 21 on the cake. )

We had to get in one bout of craziness with the Reynolds before they went home, so we attempted a human pyramid...

I couldn't hold onto Ben and get Jake up at the same time, so down it came!

And here's a picture of part of Nya's "family"...

top: Angi, Ryan, Robert, Cindy, Lilian. middle: Jenny, Jillian, Josie, Mia, Nathan, Nya. bottom: Jake, Brad, Ben, Thys, Kylie

Wear Red!

Don't forget today is National Wear Red Day to support women's heart disease awareness.

Killer Daschund

Who would have thought that this:

could do this:

Yes, I was bitten on the ankle by a daschund! I knew there was a reason I don't like small dogs!

Irony

So last night the kids slept beautifully, not one peep out of any of them after 10:00. It was me who was keeping us up! I woke up around 2:30 with a tickle in my throat and kept coughing off and on for about an hour. Poor Brad had gotten up earlier because he couldn't sleep and when he came back to bed, right about 2:30, I kept him up with my coughing!

It was a nice thought...

Last night as we were laying in bed talking, Brad said he was going to drive in to the ferry in the morning and would take Nate to seminary on his way. Yipee! I thought. I'll get to sleep in!

Here's how the night/early morning went:

11:15 Lights out
1:43 Jillian woke up. She'd had a nightmare and wanted to sleep in Kylie's room.
2:12 Ben woke up. He'd had a nightmare. I tucked him back in.
5:45 Ben woke up again. I tucked him back in.
6:30 Brad's alarm went off and he got up.
6:45 Ben woke up again and crawled in bed with me.
7:05 Matzo started barking at something outside.
7:15 Brad came into the room looking for the check book.
7:20 Nate came into the room looking for his library card.
7:35 Kylie started practicing her bass clarinet.
7:45 I finally gave up and got out of bed.

Oh well, it was the thought that counts, right?