Team CoCo!

We were among the lucky few to get to attend Conan O'Brien's first live comedy show of his new tour, "The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour". Our good friend Kirsten watched the kid for the night and we met some of our other friends at Eugene City Brewery for some drinks before the show. Before we walked in, we had to pass a swarm of cameras and reporters trying to get interviews from ticket holders. Cam, never one to shy away from the limelight, was immediately intrigued and was interviewed by a reporter for The Early Show while the rest of us stood there and grinned like idiots.

After the interview, the reporter asked us to give them a good sign off. Cam is always quick to plug my floundering/stalled website: Caught In Mid Air, so he said, "Let's do a mid air jump! Caughtinmidair.com!" as we all piled on the stairs. At the count of 3, we all jumped into the air screaming Team CoCo! while passersby judged us. Now, I should have mentioned that I was wearing boots...boots with heels mind you, as I performed this jump. That has never stopped me before, and some might recall a rather famous jump I did at Sweet Cheeks Winery with 4 inch heels from a ledge onto concrete (perfection). This was not the case for this jump. As we came close to landing, I felt my feet pass the point of no return for a safe landing and I promptly fell right on my butt! I laughed pretty hard, as did everyone else, but I PRAYED that we wouldn't make it on the air. Not with that jump!

The show was awesome and filled with old skits, new faces and a huge inflatable bat. After it was over, we walked out the same way we came in and I was bombarded with reporters from Inside Edition asking me about the show. Embarrassed by my previous media interlude and still a little tipsy, I spoke my piece and continued on to our car. The next day I waited with butterflies in my stomach for both shows to air. NOTHING! I have never been so happy to watch Inside Edition or The Early Show...ok, I've never actually watched either, but you get my point!

All in all, Conan put on one hell of a show and I still sing the chorus of this song (censored of course)...F*** S*** Stack <---not for the verbally sensitive.

Team CoCo!

It's been a while...

Life is crazy. Let me just start by saying that much! The past few months have been filled with so much stuff I don't even remember most of it. I know there were birthday parties, baby showers, BBQ's, playdates and so much more than I fear it's all turning to mush inside my head.

I had hoped I'd be a little more proactive when it came to writing on this thing, but it turns out I'm finding no time to get the inspiration to write anything. I'll touch on our more recent/interesting adventures and add pictures as I go along.

Colin had surgery yesterday to have tubes inserted into his ears due to a several month long infection in both ears. The doctor said that he had so much fluid build-up that he wouldn't even be able to conduct a hearing test and it seriously devastated me to think about my sweet little boy being in pain this whole time.

I'm not one for just pumping medicine into our bodies whenever we don't feel well, but I do think it's important to use them in order to be able to get the type of rest our bodies need. This has made it really hard on me to think that Colin may have been suffering through these ear problems with no relief. The problem is that he normally is in high spirits. Unless he has a wet diaper, is hungry or tired the kid is smiling and running around the house. Normal, right?!

I'm hoping this alleviates the problems he has had with his ears as I've heard it has done for so many other kids. Fingers crossed!!

In with the new...

The past few weeks have been quite busy for us. I left my job at IDX, Inc. for a position at The Heitman Group, Inc. in South Eugene. It's an awesome location; right next to Civic Stadium and South Eugene High School. I have a great office with a large bay window overlooking the rest of the buildings, plants, etc. I imagine that during the summer it will be very beautiful! I have SO much to learn, it's really intimidating! I've entered into a field where I am a complete novice and I'm trying to just jump in with both feet so I can begin to better understand the company and what they do.

As for the rest of the fam, Shane has been working hard on his own projects at home as well as getting prepared for the big transition of working from home at the end of March. He's been a busy guy and has been doing so much lately...I wonder when he'll run out of steam!

Colin began a new daycare this week: Kindercare. We ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! He is all smiles when we drop him off and pick him up. His teacher is so amazing and I think he probably loves spending his days with other kids and learning all these wonderful new things. It really is such a great place!

Well, I think that is it for now. More pictures of life's recent events to come soon!

Blast from the Past

I found an old photobucket account from 2004, and a video in it was from one of my media classes where we had to draw out scenes to show how a short film that we wrote would be shot. Here was my original film, called "Necklace of Love"... :)

Necklace of Love

Sarah Sarah Bo Berah Banana Fana Fo Farah

It's a Friday night, and I am doing my favorite hobby: baking. I save all the bananas that get a little too brown for us to eat in the freezer so I can use them later on when I want to bake some goodies.

Well, yesterday I went to the store and I tried to put some my new best friends (bags of sweet potato fries) into the freezer...and that's when I saw them. A months worth of bananas just staring back at me.

So, I decided once Colin would go to bed that I would get crackin. I know that's weird, to begin baking at 8:00 at night, but once I get home from work, I like to spend time with Shane and Colin until he goes to bed, then I focus on "me" stuff. A half bottle of Pinot Noir and 2 different batches of banana concoctions later, I realized that I have no idea what I am going to do with all this bread.

I have 2 loaves of regular banana bread, and one huge heart shaped pan of Chocolate Banana Bread (so good...I'll share the recipe below!). It's frustrating that my favorite thing to do is also the reason sweets are a constant present in our house!! Chocolate chip cookies? Oh yes. Toffee Crunch Cheesecake? Uh huh. Chocolate Brownie Fudge cookies? You know it!!

So my decision has come down to this...all of you lovely people I will see tomorrow (Shane's family - I'm talking to you), get ready for some baked treats, from my kitchen to yours. :)

Here's the recipe I was talking about...it's delish!! (and only 268 calories per serving!)

Ingredients for 12 servings

* 1/2 cup margarine, softened
* 1 cup white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 3 bananas, mashed
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/2 cup light sour cream
* 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, cream together margarine, sugar and eggs. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda and cocoa; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.



Enjoy!!

Am I Hearing You Right?

Yesterday we took Colin in for his 9 month check up. Everything was going so well until our doctor looked into his ears and told us, "He has an ear infection...in both ears." What?! Since when? I had no idea, which made me feel like a bad mom/stranger to him. I always thought you'd KNOW when your kid has an ear infection...screaming, kicking, crying...the signs would all be there. He hasn't had any of these. So this leads me to believe that he must just be a bad ass. What other options are there?!

As for the other man in my life, he's registered for a basketball league with some people in Albany, his old stomping ground. Now that the hassle of signing up/paying is over, I think he's really getting excited to play again and I must say I'm getting just as excited to watch him. There's just something about a basketball player! :)

Lastly, because they made such a big impact on me, I made some chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting this weekend. I don't mean to gloat, but they were pretty dang incredible. So if anyone ever wants a batch of cupcakes for any reason, just let me know...because I am always willing to whip up a few (with a couple extra for me to eat!)

Here's to a Great New Year!

It has been a CRAZY month! I don't think we've had a free weekend or group of consecutive nights with nothing to do for quite some time now. I am definitely not complaining though, we have some amazing friends and family that we've been spending time with lately!

First, here are some more pictures of Christmas. I was definitely saddened to not have the majority of my family around to spend it with. It was bittersweet to have it be Colin's first Christmas, as well as my first Christmas without my family.







For the New Year/Rose Bowl celebration, a group of our friends decided to rent a house in Waldport right on the beach. 11 of us packed up a ton of food, lots of games and our warmest clothes and settled in on Thursday evening. After ringing in the New Year, we watched the Rose Bowl on Friday and after the upsetting loss, we tried to not let it ruin our spirits. How, you ask? By playing Taboo (utter failure), Hide and Seek (yes, we're all over 12) and by stuffing our faces with make-it-yourself pizzas.

Colin had a great time at the house. He loved that we brought some of his new Christmas toys, had new and exciting places to roam and all these people to play with.




On the final full day there, the girls of the house decided to take a trip up to Newport to eat at Mo's, go to Ripley's Believe It or Not, see the seals, and of course, get some delicious sweets. Meanwhile, the guys all decided to try their luck at Three Rivers Casino in Florence. From what I've heard, Shane was the only one who made it back without any fear of telling his significant other how much he had lost. He actually came back with an extra $60!




All in all, we had a great trip. On Sunday morning, Shane and I got up early (as usual) and took Colin to the beach, which was literally just a few steps off the back porch. We loved watching his reaction to the sand, waves, sounds, birds and all the things he saw on in the sand.







All in all, it was an incredible trip. We had so much fun with all of our friends, and it was an awesome way to ring in the New Year so Colin could be involved. I hope you all had an enjoyable Holiday season as well, and we wish you a happy and healthy 2010!