KerryAndGabe.com

Something that made me happy this week: I think Cullen and Maddie are mostly over their colds now, thank goodness.

Something I’m thinking: It’s my sister’s birthday. Happy birthday, Kristin!

Something I’m hoping: I’m hoping Cullen’s baby acne clears up soon. I don’t think it bothers him too much, but it sure looks awful!

Something happening around the house: We had Maddie’s best buddies over for cake to celebrate her 2nd birthday yesterday!

Something I’m reading: Today I read Big Red Barn and PInkalicious, both of them multiple times. Oh! And I actually read two chapters of Flyte, the Septimus Heap book that I was reading before Cullen was born. I don’t anticipate getting time to read generally. I have too many other things that I need to do with my “free” time, like sleep.

Something tasty I ate this week: Cake!! We ate birthday cake for Maddie yesterday and birthday cake for my sister today. Both were very yummy. We have a good amount of cake leftover from Maddie’s cake, so I guess we might be enjoying that for a few days.

Something Maddie did this week: She turned TWO and had a birthday party! She also tattled on Nana and Papa. Cullen spit up a little on the couch earlier this week, and I asked Gabe to get a wet cloth to wipe it. Maddie then started saying over and over (while pointing at a spot on the couch), “Papa washed it. It’s clean. Papa washed it. It’s clean.” I talked to my mom and asked whether there had been any mishaps with the couch when they were here while Cullen was in the hospital (at the time OVER three weeks ago). Sure enough, Abby had drooled on the couch and my dad cleaned it up. We were all amazed that she remembered this and communicated it to us!

Something Cullen did this week: He was a bit fussier than usual this week and had a few bad nights as far as sleep was concerned. He spent most of the week recovering from his cold, poor thing. He seems to be back to his “usual” laid back self, for the most part. Oh, and he’s growing like crazy. When we had his follow up appointment the day after being discharged from the hospital (over a week ago on Saturday), he hadn’t gained any weight since the previous Tuesday. We had an appointment on Thursday and found out that he had gained almost another pound, weighing in at 10 pounds, 7 ounces! Big boy!

Something I struggled with this week: We had a couple of days this week where Maddie absolutely would have nothing to do with anyone except her Daddy. This has been exhausting for Gabe, but it’s also hard not to get my feelings hurt when she won’t let me read a book (though I can’t say I’m heartbroken when she refuses to let me change her diaper).

Something I’m doing towards my goals: I set up Cullen’s college savings account which is the first step in paying for his education. It’s my goal to pay for Maddie and Cullen’s education so that they don’t have to start their adult lives with a ton of debt.

Something I learned this week: I remember thinking of something earlier this week that I learned, but I guess it didn’t stick. I did learn how to throw a party without investing a huge amount of time in preparation. I did not make a single food item for the party…not my best party offering, but I didn’t really have time to spend on making stuff. The toddlers didn’t seem to mind!

Something I’m looking forward to next week: Looks like we have some tasty dinners headed our way this week! I’m also looking forward to Maddie’s 2-year check up. I’m curious to know how much she weighs now.

Something random: I received an interesting comment this week on my post about the Emmaljunga prams. A representative from the Cirque du Soleil show, Mystere, in Las Vegas contacted me to see if we still had the pram for sale. We do still have one of them, but unfortunately it’s a smaller model. They were interested in the one pictured on the post for use in the show. I was excited for a day or so that we might be able to contribute to the production. How cool would that have been?

Something captured: The birthday girl with her crayon box birthday cake.

Others writing The Sunday Somethings: Audrey

On Facebook, I have received a ton of requests for stupid applications, games, quizzes, etc, etc. Most of them, I have ignored. I believe that I ignored requests for PackRat numerous times, but one of my friends convinced me that I should give it a try. I added the application. I said, “I don’t get the big deal, this is dumb.” A few hours later, I was hooked! Gabe and I have been spending all of our “free” time (and some that is not so free) playing PackRat for the past several days. Laundry and dishes are being neglected. Clutter is piling up everywhere, even worse than normal. Books are getting dusty. The DVR is starting to delete unwatched shows. I’m even WAY behind on my feeds in Google Reader. Even the internet is being neglected! Don’t worry, the baby isn’t being neglected (though usually one of us is playing while the other is tending to the child!).

So…what is PackRat? Well, there’s no way that I can describe it that will make it sound “awesome” to you. As I said before, the game sounded lame to me until I started playing it. Gabe mentioned that it reminds him of Animal Crossing, which we used to play quite often on the Nintendo DS (and has me interested in getting Animal Crossing when it comes out for the Wii later this year!). Basically, it involves collecting sets of cards. You can obtain cards by stealing from your friends or “rats” (bots who also have card collections), buying them in the marketplace, combining cards in your “pack,” and finding cards that pop up on your screen randomly. I will warn you that most people play cooperatively. Stealing from your friends without permission is generally frowned upon, so don’t do it!! Playing cooperatively with your friends works quite well, actually. Several of us are usually online at the same time, messaging each other back and forth about the cards that we are trying to collect. Usually, most of us are working on different sets, so we are happy to help others!

The cards are quite pretty and sometimes amusing as well. Apparently, new sets are introduced and old ones are retired from time to time, so the availability of certain retired sets is very limited. The card collections cover a variety of interests, so you can pursue whatever set appeals to you at the moment. Currently, I’m trying to complete the Rat Pack set, which is a collection of casino and Vegas themed cards. It’s a difficult set to attempt, so I definitely do not recommend it when you first start playing! Gabe is working on Papa Louie’s, a pizza themed set.

I plan to write post soon with a “beginner’s guide” that should help newbies get started. We’ve only been playing a few days, but we have been playing quite intensively! It doesn’t take very long to figure out what is going on with the game, but it is a bit confusing about what to do when you first begin.

The PackRat Wiki is VERY useful for completing sets. It will let you know where to find particular cards as well as which cards combine together to make other cards.

Currently, we are both quite obsessed with collecting our PackRat sets. I’m sure that the obsession will die down over time, but for now we’re having a lot of fun with it!

I’ve finally updated some trip reports. It seems that I have been quite neglectful in making these updates! Updates include Thanksgiving in Kentucky, Atlanta Christmas, Kentucky Christmas, Keeneland Opening Weekend, Family, Love, and Poker in Vegas, Donovan & Cynthia’s Wedding Weekend, and Memorial Day Weekend in Atlanta (a new one!). We are currently sorting through photos for both the wedding weekend and Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully, we will have these photos posted soon.

Photos from our Vegas trip with our families have been posted. We planned this trip in December, and we had no idea that we would be closing on our new house just a few short days before the trip! It was nice to get away for a few days from all the stress with moving and settling into the new place! We met up with my parents and Gabe’s Mom. We spent some time with family, played some poker, and saw The Beatles Cirque du Soleil show, Love.

Added trip reports for Early Christmas in Davidson and BNL in Charlotte and Vegas in April. Not sure when the photos from New York City, Thanksgiving, and the weekend in Davidson will be posted…it may be next year at this rate!

Updated Vegas in January trip report.

Added Vegas in January photos.

Added the Vegas in January upcoming trip.

Updated the World Series of Poker in Vegas trip report. Updated the location and graphic for the Shore Vacation with Andrew and Brooke upcoming trip.

Added World Series of Poker 2005 photos.