Thursday's Thoughts

Hearing: Arabella waking up from her nap.

Tasting: Spicy Raw Almond Salad Dressing I made from scratch. I can't wait to have it on my salad tonight!

Seeing: Blooming hibiscus' on our patio.


Smelling: Arabella's Birthday Cake as it bakes.

Feeling: Amazement that tomorrow my Little Bean turns 2.

I Caught You

I finally captured Arabella climbing in and out of her crib! She giggles the whole time, it is too cute!

Going In


Getting Out

Time to Reminisce

I have been looking at photos on the computer the past few days since Arabella's birthday is later this week. Every so often I like to reminisce about how little she was and how far she has come. She is amazing in every sense of the word. However, before there was the Ripp Family, it was just Jay and I. And while looking at pictures of Arabella, I came across some of my favorites from our travels and wedding.

First Came Love



















Then Came Marriage











Then Came Arabella in a Baby Carriage

Mom Salary

I came across Salary.com and they have a Mom Wizard that allows you to see what the typical stay-at-home mom would make. Interestingly, it wouldn't let me put in my Canada postal code so I had to use our old zip code from Ohio. So, if the Ripp Household were to cut me a paycheck, I would make $129,888 a year, woo hoo!!

Below is the earnings statement based on my typical yearly hours:

Earnings Statement Our Family
For The year Ending: May, 2010
Job Title Hourly Rate Hours Worked
Housekeeper $9.61 832
Cook $12.74 728
Day Care
Center Teacher $12.74 692
Facilities
Manager $30.39 520
Computer
Operator $14.84 520
Van Driver $14.46 426
Psychologist $36.43 364
Janitor $9.42 416
Laundry
Machine Oper. $9.65 364
Chief Ex.
Officer $48.99 239

Regular Hourly Rate $17.29 2,080 $35,953
Over Time Rate $25.93 3,021 $78,334

Total Value $129,888

Pretty interesting. And think we do it all for love and not money. If you are interested in trying it out for yourself, you can check it out here:

http://swz.salary.com/momsalarywizard/layoutscripts/mswl_newsearch.asp

Source: mom.Salary.com

My Garden Helper

It seems that Arabella has caught the gardening bug and has a budding green thumb. This morning, she helped me plant 3 hibiscus' for the back patio.



I bought a huge bag of potting soil at Costco for $10.75, but didn't realize how big it was until Arabella was standing next to it! It is, or shall I say was, as tall as her.


She had a lot of fun and even watered the plants when we were finished potting them.




Now we are off to buy some herbs and veggies and the back yard will be complete!

New Backpack

Grammie sent Arabella a surprise in the mail last week. It is the cutest little backpack and it fits her perfect. She will use it for her swimsuit and pool toys when we go to the pool this summer. Right away she put it on and carried a few books in it. Thanks Grammie!

Quebec City

Last week, Arabella and I accompanied Jay on a trip to Quebec City. Jay needed to be there for a dealer function Thursday night and then he took Friday off from work so we could check out the city. We stayed at the Times Hotel, which has a very New York City loft feel to it. I liked the room numbers...
Arabella and I enjoyed the pool on Thursday night and had a fun girls only dinner out!

We got up early on Friday and had to stop by Jay's dealer before heading into the city. Arabella got to an articulated dump truck up close and I think she was afraid of how large it was. After the dealer we decided to go to the Aquarium. It was really nice and we were surprised at how close you could get to the animals. We even got to watch the walrus' get fed their breakfast. Arabella enjoyed the aquarium a lot and it wore her out.








After the aquarium, we headed into Quebec City. It is such a wonderful old city, it is what I think of when I think of Europe. It has so much character, narrow and cobblestone streets, and the architecture is amazing. We walked all around and Arabella even fell asleep in her stroller which is so unlike her, she hates to miss a thing, but I think that she was wiped out from the aquarium. We had a great day and would like to go back to explore some more!