Me: Simponized

I stole this idea from Jamie Brandon's blog. He had a really good version of himself Simponized. You can try it yourself at:

http://simpsonizeme.com/

Do you think Brynn Simpson could be a new character on the show?

Nutts Are Out

Two kinds of Nutts are out of our lives now: peanuts and Houston Nutt. Let's start with peanuts.

A few weeks ago Henry had his booster shots. Shortly after, he was eating lunch when he broke out in a terrible rash all over his face. Chad was afraid that the shots had caused it, so he called the nurse and she requested that Chad bring Henry back so they could take a look. The nurse said it looked like a food allergy, so we made an appointment with an allergy specialist to have him tested. Today was the big day. We found out that Henry has a serious peanut allergy and needs to have an Epi-Pen everywhere he goes. As far as we know, Henry has never had a peanut. We still don't know what the rash was all about, but we are thankful to have found out about the peanut allergy no matter how it happened. It could have been much worse. Needless to say, we are getting rid of all peanuts in our house. Poor Chad! It was one of his favorite late-night snacks.

Now for Houston Nutt. I can't say I was surprised that he announced his resignation. I really didn't think he had any other choice. I think most of us in his place would have done the same. I felt a little sad for him because we sure have had some good Razorback memories over the past 10 years. I remember sitting in the grassy area of the south end zone (yes, there was grass there at one time before the stadium renovations) and watching the Razorbacks beat the living heck out of Alabama and not believing my eyes. I think it was Nutt's first or second year. I just remember every time we scored (and we scored many times that game) I was thrilled and a little shocked. I kept thinking, "We are clobbering ALABAMA!" I'm pretty sure that it was the first time I had seen fireworks shot off after a football victory. That being said, I think it was time for him to move on. I'm a little concerned that we will not find someone with the same charisma. I don't envy the position that Jeff Long is in. I guess that's why he gets paid the big bucks.

A Razorback-Induced Affliction?

Okay, so I took Friday off because my uncle and aunt from Sweden were in town. I had a nice day with them--mostly shopping and eating and hanging out with all my family. On Saturday I woke up feeling fine, but by about 12:30 yesterday I had a fever of 101.7--and that was after two Tylenol. Yes, the timing was very suspicious because this was just about the time that Hillis got stuffed running up the middle while McFadden and Jones were standing on the sidelines. I had the shakes, fever, ache, and nausea. I actually didn't watch all of the game (which I guess I'm glad about now that I know the final outcome.)

Around 3:30 I decided I needed a doctor, so Chad took me to MediQuick. They took my blood and found out I had a bacterial infection. I kept insisting to the doctor that I had the flu, but she said the flu has not reached Arkansas this year. I guess a bacterial infection sounds really bad, but the good part is that it is not contagious. I was really worried that Henry or Chad would get it. The other good news is that it can be cleared up with antibiotics. The doctor called it sinusitis. She thinks it was caused by allergies. Anyway, I left MediQuick and proceeded to throw up in the parking lot. Damn those allergies! I didn't realize that they can make you vomit too!!! Last night Chad suggested that I eat something, so I tried a few spoons of soup (he also suggested that I just try a little, just in case.) A few hours later--pukeville! I feel a little better today. I'll just blame it on the Hogs!

Halloween

Our neighborhood had a little Halloween potluck so that all the kids from the neighborhood could get together and play and the parents could have a cocktail and socialize. Henry was one of the youngest kids there. I think he had fun, mostly trying to escape from his parents and run off. Chad was chasing him around all night. We decided not to go trick-or-treating because he really doesn't know the joy of candy yet, and also he's usually asleep by 8:00. Henry got a traditional Chinese tunic jacket and pants from my parents when they visited China last spring, so Henry was Confucius for Halloween. The pictures are not very good, but you get the idea anyway. Henry would not keep the hat on, which is the cutest part of the outfit.

"The superior man seeks for it in himself. The petty man seeks for it in others"
--Confucius

Henry Had a Little Lamb

Henry has started carrying around stuffed animals and kissing and hugging them. It's really cute. He has never cared much for stuffed animals until recently (unless there were buttons involved.) He has always liked throwing, pushing, stacking, nesting, and so forth as far as toys are concerned, but never hugging and kissing stuffed animals. When I first saw him carrying around his lamb I was really startled, but he has really taken a liking to the little fuzzy thing.

Henry has also recently learned to point to various body parts. He can point to his head, nose, ears, bellybutton, and feet. He can also point to my elbow, I guess because it is easier to point to than his own. He knows mouth too. When you ask him to point to his mouth he opens it and puts his finger on his tongue.

Dinnertime Drama

Click To Play

Henry now insists on eating with a fork. This is both good and bad. The good part is that he will eat literally anything off a fork as long as he is doing it himself, the bad part is that......you guessed it....it's extremely messy!

Candidate Calculator

Confused about who to support for President?

You already do support someone...you just don't know who yet.
Click on this link and find out who.

http://www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html

Okay, so I took this test and the results said that I was an 88% match with Mike Gravel of Alaska. Ha! I don't think so! Apparently I'm not the only one. Look at their results. They say over 820,000 people have taken this test.

2008 Election

Who is Your
Perfect Candidate?

Word Processing

Henry has a new interest--words! For some time now he has enjoyed pointing at things in books and waiting for us to say the word. He has been pointing at lights and fans for a long time, but recently he has discovered that he can point at anything and learn the name of it. His favorites are: mailbox, stop sign, and mirror. The other day we were in the kitchen and he started pointing at stuff. (We rarely play this game in the kitchen.) All of a sudden, Henry just takes off crawling with a mission and points at the spacers in our kitchen floor. He has always been fascinated with these spacers. (When the people before us tiled the kitchen floor, they left the spacers in. As far as I know, these are not supposed to be left in place, but ours were.) Anyway, Henry has always liked them. It was as if Henry was thinking, "Yeah! We're learning words in the kitchen! I've always wanted to know what these are called!"

He's a big boy!

Weeeeeeee!

Click To Play

We took Henry to Gulley Park last weekend. Henry mostly played with the mulch and the sand, but he also liked the slide.

Game 1

I have to admit, I was giddy like a child before kickoff yesterday. Football and leaves are the two things that make fall exciting. I'm going to try my own thumbs up/thumbs down like the newspaper, but I swear I haven't read it yet. These are my own original thoughts:

Thumbs up to:

1. McFadden being one of the first players out of the chute before the game--it pumped the crowd up.
2. Herring making adjustments at halftime. The pass defense seemed much better in the second half.
3. Herring. He's an awesome coach.
4. All the people that went to the game. There was not a single ticket for sale in sight and many people were trying to buy.
5. Felix Jones' kickoff return for a touchdown. He's secretly my favorite player on the team. I'm always for the underdog, though I don't think Felix really qualifies as an underdog anymore.
6. Finally having a field goal kicker! Tejada scored 15 of our points. Erik said we scored almost as many field goals in our first game as we did all year last year.
7. Perfect football weather.
8. Michigan getting beat. (More room for us to move up in the polls.)

Thumbs down to:

1. Our nonexistent passing game. Casey Dick did not complete a single pass. (I don't count passes that I could have made, so those completions to Hillis don't count in my book.) I wanted to see something really quarterbackey and impressive. Now I'm just hoping that we can do alright without a passing game.
2. Our pass defense in the first half.
3. Our punt returns. (What punt returns?)
4. Throwing pom-poms off the upper deck. Okay, that's just rude.
5. The traffic after the game. We sat for one hour trying to get out of the parking deck.
6. Doing the wave when we are only 6 points ahead--not cool!

Strawberries and Razorbacks

Here's Henry looking Razorback-tough in his Casey Dick jersey.

Henry has a new love--strawberries! This morning I cut up a bunch of fruit: cantaloupe, honeydew, blueberries, grapes and strawberries. Henry has had strawberries before, but this time he had many fruits to choose from. That way I could see which he preferred. He ate all the strawberries first and then he whimpered a little like he wanted more, but I just let him sit there because, after all, he had a whole plate of fruit in front of him. He finally went for the grapes, then the rest. He ate everything except the honeydew. Later this afternoon we went to Janice's house for a little get-together. Janice had strawberries as a snack. Henry immediately approached a stranger (to him) and started begging for strawberries from her plate. I think he likes strawberries partly because of his love for all things red. He has several books with strawberries pictured (i.e. The Hungry Caterpillar) and one of his new favorite pastimes is pointing at pictures and waiting for us to say the word. He always finds the strawberries (and the other red things that are pictured like the red balloon, the fire, people's tongues, etc...) I guess this makes him a born Razorback.

That brings me to my next line of thought...the Razorbacks. I've been thinking about them alot these days. Football makes fall quite possibly the best season. It's only 6 days until kickoff and I am hoping for at least a 10 win season. I hope I don't have my hopes set too high. I'm really worried about Hillis' health, the defense, and the quarterback situation. I guess I'm a little worried about special teams too. I was happy to hear that Alex Mortensen was back. Hopefully we won't need him this year, but it makes me feel a little more secure about the quarterback situation.

Disclaimer: Yes, my posts are getting more infrequent, but if you knew what I was going through each day at work you would understand. The 6th graders are wearing me out! They need lots of training and attention that 7th graders don't need. Especially with the lockers and reading their schedules. They seem really sweet, but I have been exhausted lately.

Back to School

I was in Rogers today trying to do some last minute things before the first day of school. On my way home I got behind an old, beat-up pickup that had more rust than paint. We stopped at a light, so I had the pleasure of reading his many bumper stickers. One of them read, "We don't call 911" and it had a picture of a gun under it. Another said, "Get R Done, Get R Did, Turn R Over, Do R Again." Now if you are most people, you would likely have been a little offended. But if you are a teacher you immediately begin to wonder if this guy has a child that will be going into the 6th grade this year. That's how my mind works anyway--no time to be offended. I'm already wondering if I will be forced to conduct parent/teacher conferences with this guy.

School starts on Monday! Summers really fly. It will be a year of change for me: new team, new subject, new grade, new room. Everything has gone pretty smoothly so far. We had our open house on Thursday night and most of my homeroom showed up, so I got to meet a large number of my students and their parents. I asked one little girl if she had any questions for me (after I gave her a seat and a locker) and she said that she didn't, but that she just couldn't wait until Monday. It really looked like she was about to burst with excitement. I thought it was so cute. I guess it is a pretty big deal to these kids to be in middle school. They feel so grown up. Sixth grade truly is different from seventh. By the time they get to seventh the newness has worn off and they are already middle school experts. Not quite as exciting any more.

Henry update:

Henry was eating oatmeal this morning and he sneezed with his mouth full. Oatmeal spewed everywhere including all over me. He thought it was hilarious.
Good thing sneezing is involuntary!

I took this last night.
Henry and Chad accidentally had the same shirt on
so I had to capture it on film.

Santa Barbara Pics

Haley harvesting grapes on the wine tour.

Rideau winery - the oldest two-story adobe structure in California.

Mmmmmm.

Blonde is beautiful!

Pacific Ocean.

Too cold to swim.

In front of the Four Seasons Hotel - aren't we classy?

Inside the Four Seasons.

Brooke's parents house - you can normally see the ocean, but there was an ash storm.

Lunch in Santa Barbara.

Nice shades.

Fiesta Days in Santa Barbara.

Had to take Henry's picture before I left.

The Hardin Manor.

Beverly, Joe and Brooke.

This is their side-yard.

Santa Barbara

In front of the Hardin's house (l-r back row) Jennifer H., Sarah, Erin, Brooke, Brynn, Susannah, (front row) Jennifer S., Amy.

I'm here in Santa Barbara for the 8th Annual Girl's Weekend. There are ten of us that get together every summer. We are all high school friends that are now scattered all over: four in northwest Arkansas, three in Little Rock, one in Florida, one in Chicago, and one in Nashville. Only eight of us were able to make it this year. We are staying in Brooke's parents house and it is gorgeous. Yesterday we toured wine country and visited some of the places from the movie Sideways.

Anniversary

You might think that the reason I haven't blogged is because I've locked myself away to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and you would be partly right. But really I just have not had as much time to read as I would like. I'm on 227 right now and it seems like everywhere I go people are reading it or wanting to tell me what happens. I'm still trying to figure out how my prediction that Snape is really a good guy will come true, but it's not looking good right now.

I blogged earlier that Henry was taking swim lessons and it was not going well. We had a lesson on Monday and he cried pretty much the whole way through it. He acted like he was terrified of the water. I was really dreading his next lesson on Wednesday. I went by to see Korienne on Wednesday morning and I was telling her my feelings of dread and embarrassment about the upcoming lesson. She said that her little girl was exactly the same way. She is also the oldest in the class and cries and screams when they have to dive. (That sounds like a much more advanced class than Henry's, but anyway...) Katherine is two and a half and Korienne assured me that she knew my pain. That made me feel a little better. Anyway, long story short, Henry did very well at lessons on Wednesday. He was happy in the water, participated in all the games, and did all the skills. The only part he didn't like was when the instructor pulled him away from me. He just whimpered a little, but that didn't have anything to do with the water. He got "most improved" diaper dolphin! He even got a certificate!


I guess every parent thinks their child is intelligent, but here are some reasons we think Henry is a smart little guy:

1. We gave him some keys to play with and he immediately took them over to the door and began trying to put them into the lock.

2. Today he put together a sentence for the first time: "Papa bye bye" as Chad was walking out the carport door. (He said Papa and signed bye bye, but that still counts, right?)

3. When he is into something he shouldn't be and we say "no" he tries to distract us by calling the Hogs.

4. When he saw a cartoon picture of a dog in a book, he signed dog.


Chad and I had our five year anniversary on Friday night. Chad surprised me and got the same room we stayed in on our wedding night at Inn at the Mill. They had a wine and cheese happy hour and a complimentary breakfast. It was very sweet. We watched our wedding DVD, which we have only done one other time in five years. My aunt Kristina married us and during the service she talked about happiness. She said that she hoped that we would remember July 27, 2002 as one of the happiest days of our lives. Honestly I didn't think that we would have much time or energy to enjoy our wedding, but we ended up having had a blast. It truly was one of the happiest days of my life. They finally had to make us leave the reception because we were some of the last people there. My parents deserve much of the credit for our happy wedding day. It was nice to be able to relive it. (I apologize for the sappiness if you are about to gag!)

A Valance Effort

Well...it took us 8 hours, but the valance is complete! Henry has a cowboy theme in his room so we did a red bandanna print. I think it looks pretty cute and very boyish. I actually did sew some of the tabs, but my mom had to do anything that required a really straight seam. Thanks Mom!

(Haven't had time to read any Harry Potter, but I did pick up my copy this morning.)

Karl Anthony

Henry's new cousin's name is Karl Anthony. Karl with a "K"--the Swedish way. We have several Karl's in our Swedish line including my uncle's son Karl Johan. Karin also has many Karl's on her dad's German side, so it is very fitting. It sounds very royal, doesn't it? Speaking of royalty, below is a picture of Karl in his crib. Aunt Brynn insisted on taking a picture of him crying before Karin could feed him--I feel a little guilty, but it was for the sake of the blog. It looks like a bed fit for a little prince. My mother made the canopy and the bumper pad. She's going to teach me how to sew tomorrow. We are going to make a valance for Henry's window. She says there's nothing to it, but she is known to be pretty optimistic sometimes. We'll see.


Henry has had an eventful week. I signed him up for some swimming lessons with one of our neighbors. Wednesday was our first day of Diaper Dolphins and I'll have to say, Henry acted more like a cat in water than a dolphin. He was very scared of the water and cried or was on the brink of crying nearly the whole time. The only reprieve was when the instructor got out these plastic balls and dumped them into the water. I think Henry forgot he was in the water and was distracted by the balls momentarily. Did I mention that Henry was the oldest dolphin in the class? All the other babies acted like they were thrilled to be there. They were even putting their faces in the water! I was a little embarrassed by the whole ordeal, so after the class I decided that Henry needed socialization. Maybe it was the combination of strangers and water that threw him off. So the next day I took him to Baby Bookworm at the public library and he loved it. He obviously doesn't mind strangers because as soon as we got there he pried my hands off him and ran out into the middle of the circle. He also saw several of his friends there: Lillian, Jack, Violet, and Hamilton. I think I already knew that it wasn't the people that scared him, it was the water. After all, Henry attended his first party at the age of six weeks (Cory's rehearsal dinner) and his latest one was 4th of July at the Kendall's cabin and there have been many in between. My little dolphin will be trying the water again on Monday, so wish us luck.

What's a Birthday Without a Birth or Two?

Yesterday was my birthday and it was indeed wild and crazy! In fact, I stayed out until 3 a.m. I can't remember when that happened last. It's probably not what you think.

My brother's wife went into labor yesterday afternoon. My mother had planned a very nice birthday dinner for me, but when we found out Karin was in labor we scarfed down the food so we could get to Willow Creek immediately. Turns out we could have eaten a leisurely dinner and still had 5 or 6 hours to spare, but who knew? The still nameless baby boy arrived about 1:45 a.m. He just barely missed my birthday. He was 7 lbs. 5 oz. and has a little bit of brown hair and dark blue eyes (which I have yet to see). He is adorable. I think he looks like Erik--especially the lips.

Notice that post-delivery Karin (below) looks happier than pre-delivery Karin (with Henry and Erik above).

Doesn't Karin look good?

While we were waiting for baby Berry, I had plenty of time to scope out Korienne's baby girl, Rosie. Korienne is a colleague of mine. She had Rosie on my birthday and they were at Willow Creek too. Rosie is tiny and, of course, cute too! She is only 5 lbs. and something.

We had a teacher work day on Friday and Korienne was there. We were joking that we might have to deliver her baby during our meeting on Friday. Little did we know, that almost became a reality. Korienne had Rosie within one hour of arriving. They didn't even have time to get her to a delivery room or give her an epidural.

All babies and mamas are doing fine.

Korienne, Rosie, and Kathrine

If Henry Had a My Space Page....

Height:
2' 8"

Weight: 24lbs. 3oz.

Birthday: May 8

Age: 14 months

Hair: brown

Eyes: blue

Favorite color: red
(I have proved this over and over again in some semi-scientific tests where Mom & Dad put three of the same toy in three different colors -- I always grab the red one.)

Favorite book: I See a Puppy

Favorite song: "Muffin Man"

Useful skills: walking, calling the Hogs (see above picture), brushing my six teeth with a mechanical Dora the Explorer toothbrush, pretend combing my hair, pretend putting my shoes & socks on, playing peek-a-boo, turning a somersault (with assistance), stacking blocks, high-fives.

Words I can say: Mama, Papa, bye bye or any combination of these three (such as: Ma-pa, Pa-ba, etc...)

Sign language signs I know: milk, all done, water, help, eat, goodbye, dog

Likes: Clapping, dogs (mainly terrorizing Jerome), rides in my wagon/stroller, Baby Einstein DVD's, stacking blocks, stacking rings, stacking cups (anything that stacks or nests), playing with water faucets, using my bottle full of milk as a paintbrush on the carpet (not popular with Mom & Dad), pushing buttons on keyboards, stereos or televisions (also not popular with Mom & Dad), "helping" unload the dishwasher, ceiling fans, Cheerios.

Dislikes: generic brand Cheerios, watermelon, bananas, when people blow their noses, bedtime, getting out of the bathtub, having my dirty face wiped, naptime.

Zodiac sign: Taurus

Chinese zodiac sign: Dog

Status: single, but looking (mostly under the couch)

Too Tired to Copy and Paste

Have you ever been too tired to copy and paste? Not likely. My last post really wore me out and I had to take the day off yesterday. Let me explain. This new laptop is different--the built-in mouse is taking some getting used to and I got really frustrated trying to post my pictures. I couldn't copy and paste them in the right spot. I tried and tried and tried. I'm embarrassed to say how long I worked at this until finally I got so discouraged that I called Chad to help me. The good news is that today copying and pasting is easy, so I guess I'll just write it off to being tired.

This week is work week for me. I have a meeting on Friday with the social studies department and we will be developing lessons that fit our new state frameworks. To prepare for this I have been studying the frameworks, typing vocabulary words, and developing lessons (so far just in my head.) I guess the good news is that if I attend this meeting, I get a day off in the fall during the week of the War Eagle arts and crafts fair. I guess it will all be worth it in the end, but I am not accustomed to working in the summer. (I know...all you 8 to 5ers don't feel a bit sorry for me, but you could have become a teacher too ya know.)

My mother kept Henry on Monday and he came back to us in the cutest little outfit. She saved some of my brother's clothes from the 70's, so don't run off to your nearest boutique to try to find it. We'll not call it old, it's vintage--complete with a little John Travolta-esque pointy collar. Speaking of Henry, he is always doing something new. Today I was humming one of his songs from his toy I-pod and I swear he started humming it too. It was sorta like he was singing his first song--very cute!

A Considerably Large Canyon

Chad and I took little impromptu vacation last week. My parents have a condo in Durango, CO and it was just recently remodeled, so we decided to check it out. This trip was taken with a little apprehension because A) we have never been away from Henry for that long, and B) my brother and his wife are expecting their first child on July 19. We knew that Henry would be well taken care of at my parents house, but my sister-in-law was under strict instructions not to give birth until we were back. It all worked out, and we are still anxiously awaiting the arrival of little Karl Erik, or Patrick, or Hans, or Diego...or whatever they decide to name him. (Did you notice my subtle suggestions?)

Anyway, it sorta worked out where Chad got to plan the first leg of our trip (more on that later) and I got to plan "the way home," which naturally ended up heading west instead of east. It has been a dream of mine to see the Grand Canyon, so on our way home we stopped by. My cousin Andrea lives in Phoenix and we decided to meet up at Grand Canyon and camp. Andrea called us on the way there with a weather report for the Canyon--expect 100+ during the day and 37 degrees at night. Does that seem strange to anyone else but me? How can Mother Nature be that cruel? How can two people in a little Forester prepare for such extremes when the car is already loaded to the gills?

People always say this, but it's true: the Grand Canyon truly is grand. I knew it would be considerably large, but there is no way to capture its enormity on film. Keeping that in mind, here are some photos that can't possibly do it justice.

A Rookie Blogger

A new blog of my very own! I've been saying since the spring that I wanted to start a blog, but I knew I wouldn't have time until summer break rolled around. Blogging seems so narcissistic and self-indulgent, but who cares, right?

Chad set me up with my blog (Isn't he sweet?) and apparently the first thing you have to do is name your blog. The naming process stressed me out a little. It's almost like naming a child, and those of you who know us know how much trouble we had with that. Chad suggested "Brynnsights" or "Brynntuition"--and as a matter of fact, those are not taken, if you can imagine that! We checked. But I decided to go with something else, so for all those Brynn's out there starting a blog maybe we can have a small stipend if you decide to go with one of our names.

Are there any rules of etiquette regarding blogging? I don't have any idea. I haven't even spent much time reading blogs, much less writing one. I'm a rookie blogger--do I need to set some goals or have a mission statement or something? I will primarily be using this blog to write about daily occurrences. I have relatives in Sweden, Arizona, and California so maybe this will be a way for them to keep up with what Henry and the rest of the family is up to. Henry is changing so quickly it is hard to keep up with his little stages--even for us!

On another note: MY BROTHER IS AWESOME! (Genius brothers sorta run in the family, and my brother is no exception.) Thanks to him I am sitting here with my new laptop on my back patio posting my first blog. The temperature is perfect and the sun is just fading behind the horizon. Here's how it happened:

Yesterday he came over to try to fix my dinosaur computer. It was really slow and locking up and crashing all the time. He said he felt certain he could fix it, and in fact, it is working much faster now, but in the process he asked if I was sure I didn't just want a new one. He said (really politely), "The good news is that Windows Millennium was the last version of Windows that really sucked." I guess he felt I needed to be brought up to the modern age. I had been thinking about getting a laptop ever since I took my dinosaur in to MegaByte about 6 months ago and the guy behind the counter asked me if I was sure I wanted to invest in fixing it. Anyway, that's how it all happened and now after many hours of shopping and hooking up stuff yesterday, here I am tonight enjoying my new computer--thanks bro.

Chad and I really have had an exciting summer, so maybe tomorrow I'll get to the meat of what we have been doing.