Conversation With my Daughter

Last night was just your normal run-of-the-mill night at the Sherman house. I got home from working out and Jake blasted out the door to help a friend sight in his bow -- Gotta do it now I guess. God knows the whole world is going to come to a screeching halt when September hits! Layla and I were just hanging out, prepping for bedtime and then we started to have our mommy / Layla chat... It went something like this....

More from our Staycation!

Layla throwing pennies in the fountain by Nonnie's house. I asked her what she wished for but she wouldn't tell me.
Petting the Georgia O'Keefe cow in Sun Prairie --- awe.
Riding the cow -- she then proceeded to tell me the cow was hot and she wanted to get off. ;)
Walking in circles around the "fountain of youth".
Mommy, do you think this flower matches my dress? Or is it the wrong shade of pink?
Layla walking in the pool with Nonnie. Love this pic!!
Check me out! I am such a big girl!! Layla probably went down this slide 2909 times!!
Holla!
My little sunshine.
Right after she dunked under water!! She was super excited!!

Sorry blog followers... this is going to be a quick update as we're packing up and heading North for the weekend. But, knew it was far past my due date for posting more pics of the Sherman family staycation so forced myself to do it!!

The pictures are of our trip to see Nonnie in Sun Prairie. Layla loved the Georgia O'Keefe cow that's down town and loved making wishes with pennies in the water fountain. She had a SUPER time at the SP Aquatic center... I think she would've stayed and played there for the entire week had we let her! The funnest part for Jake and I was to watch how Layla would get increasingly more brave as the day went on. After about 20 times down the slide with help from Nonnie, Layla wanted NO help at all. And, soon after that she was hard charging into the water to jump into daddy's arms with no sense of caution what-so-ever. I think we may have quite the little swimmer on our hands!!!

Heading up to see G'pa and G'ma Sherman for the weekend. Lots of pictures will be taken there... all of Layla having a blast. She loves it there and I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend in the woods.

Later internet!!

State Fair on the Sherman Family "Staycation"!

Oh yes dear friends... I've done it. Posted pictures of an event that took place just a less than 24 hours ago!!! Whoo hooo!!! ;) Yesterday, we went to the WI State Fair with our friend Kruse. He was able to get us free tickets and free parking as his wife, Becky, works for U.S. Cellular (fair sponsor) and was able to pass the tickets our way. Thanks to you both, Becky and Jason!

Layla had a blast and was SUPER good. We were there all day and we didn't have one meltdown. Amazing. Layla's favorite thing was doing the bungee bounce thingie. Unfortunately, we don't have pics of that (by that time, my battery was dead on the camera). Jake has a great pic on his phone and we're in the midst of figuring out how to upload it to the computer. Anyway, it was the funniest thing I've ever seen. They put layla in a harness and set her on a huge trampoline and just started bouncing her up in the air. Jake was right there with her, telling the "assistant" how high she could go (not too high) so it was safe. Her face the ENTIRE time was VERY serious. But we could tell she was having a blast.

Here's Bean petting a giant horse... Now of all the things we did, THIS made me nervous. I hate horses. Don't trust 'em since I gut thrown off one at girl scout camp when I was a whipper snapper. Thankfully, this guy seemed pretty tame. He did almost eat the crayons Layla tried feeding him, so that was pretty funny. See his big old eye staring back at the camera?! Yikes!!
Oh yes blog fans... that's me, sitting right next to a giant cow! Aren't you proud Meyer's?? ;) Really though, I love cows. I think they're adorable. Sorry, I just do. And surprisingly, it wasn't too stinky next to this heifer. Bean was a smidge nervous, but she warmed up very quickly...
See?? :)
Awe daddy, you're cute.
Daddy, you look hot. Drink this water.
Ahhhh.... apple juice. Holla.
Mommy and Layla, just strolling through the fair grounds. Layla... such a ham for the camera!!
I just love this pic. She looks like an angel!!
Watching the pigs... another favorite of Layla's! She thought they were very amusing, even though they weren't doing anything spectacular. Just sleeping.

Today, we're off to see Nonnie (my mom) and will be hitting up the Sun Prairie aquatic center (water park, essentially). Layla will have a blast and will be so exicted to see Nonnie. She loves her sooo much!

More to come... :)

Promises, Promises

Stella, Theresa and Brian's niece... smartest kid I've ever met. Freaky smart man.
Don't pour water on my head man! I told ya I HATE that!!! God! (They were both totally fake crying in this pic).
Cheeeese!
Bath time! Stella, Layla and Logan.
Just chillin' on the steps.
Logan being a bucket head.
Bean being a bucket head.
Wrestling time!
This is GOOD!
Layla on her 1st airplane -- or as she calls it, "airpeeeen!!"

Oye! Just recently, I sent an email to my friend Meg, razzing her about a "goal" she set for herself for the weekend. She vowed that she would have her pictures from our Vegas trip posted to Facebook before the end of that weekend. When I saw her message, I replied back to her and asked if her goal was like one of my goals that I've recently "committed" to -- finishing my budget spreadsheet, completing our will, assigning legal guardians for Layla and of course, posting to our blog twice a week. Turns out, Meg's "goal" wasn't on the top of her priority list at the time. Apparently, neither was mine.

I haven't done well at all with my recent promise to post to this blog on a regular basis. I think I have figured out a way to do a much better job at this though. It's really quite simple... all I need is for my fellow blog followers to find me a personal assistant. It shouldn't be difficult. I'd like someone who is overly ambitious, proactive and not reactive, outgoing but not loud and she (yes, it needs to be a she) can never talk back or say no. First on her list, remind me each morning that the blog needs to be updated. I will then dictate to her the latest events and Sherman happenings that I'd like to document and she can transcribe them creatively into my blog. Then, I'll leave it to her to use her creative thinking and and innovative ways to choose the most recent photos of our family that will go with each post. Sound good? Great. Send resumes my way and I'll let you know who's been chosen for the role by August 15th. Thank you.

So, since my last post -- let's see. Last Saturday, Jake, Layla and I traveled to MN. It was Layla's first airplane ride and boy did she LOVE it. I had to work in Minneapolis Mon - Wed, but was able to hang out with the Meyer's for the weekend before heading to the city to be a slave to the man. Layla played her little tail off with Logan and crashed HARD each night. I was thoroughly impressed with the Meyer's garden, apple trees and bees (yes, they have bees. Bees that they brought in to help pollinate the garden and apple trees). I was also impressed (and intimidated) by Theresa's cooking. Yuummmmyyyy!!! Now I have some severely high standards to live up to here at home. Step 1 - get some damn groceries.

One more day of work this week, then we will be kicking off the Sherman Family "Staycation" of 2009. On our agenda of things we'd like to do (we'll see what we can actually fit in): Dells trip, State Fair (gotta get us some lard on a stick, don't ya know?), visit to Nonnie's house for a trip to the S.P. aquatic center and a visit w/ Uncle Ray and Auntie Linds, "date" day/night for mommy and daddy, and some other stuff.

Mother of pearl... it's 9:45! Where does the time go??? Hope all is well with our fellow blog followers and that you're keeping the faith (take from that what you will. Go with it... be creative, use your imagination). Oh and Tee, you're gonna love this - I can't find the USB cord for our camera, so uh, stay tuned for pics. For a glimpse at our weekend trip, please see the Meyer Ranch. **Update - found it... hence the pics! ;)

Also, found out today that the big execs at my company just got slight salary increases... at the top of the list, our CEO is now making $900k / year and earned himself a nice $4.7 million in company stock today. It continues on from there and is quite sickening if you ask me. I recently heard that the president of the U.S. makes around $250k / year. Which one of these things is not like the other. WF - go ahead, tell me we're not getting bonuses this year... and that our raises will be "subtle". Try it. I saw the recent earnings report. I know how big we are. SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!! (And Dooce, if I am fired for posting this, would you please hire me as your personal assistant? I will even pick up your dogs' shit.)