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The family that Xooms together…

In the comments of my last post about the sweet Motorola Xoom I’ve been test driving as part of the Verizon Wireless #MidwestMoms group, Katrina asked to see how big the Xoom is. So, since Katrina and I are old college buddies, and because it was, you know, a really good question, here ya go! (Also Katrina is very funny and you should check out her blog,   The Low Ryder.) The Xoom next to a Reader’s Digest for size comparison:

xoom compare

So, as you can see, it’s slightly larger than the magazine my grandmother orders me every year for Christmas. Very portable! It fits just great in my purse.

Now, I am not a HUGE fan of the kids taking over my devices – I don’t let the kids play on my phone at all. BUT, there is a time and a place!  And sometimes that time is when you’re climbing the walls waiting for some backup (aka the Husband to get home) and that place is the couch!  So, I am glad there are some great Android apps for kids available for the Xoom.  Here’s Sophie practicing writing her lowercase letters on a free app:

Sophie Xooms

At night before bed, Bobby and Joshua play games on the Xoom. It’s a tradition! Both kids also love the kids’ books apps you can get for it. Their favorite is “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” by Dr. Seuss. It looks AWESOME on the Xoom!

Our family is really enjoying the Xoom in a lot of ways.  This past weekend when Bobby took the big kids to his family’s Cabin in the Middle of Nowhere That Has No Phone or Internet, he took the Xoom with him so he and I could chat on instant messenger and stay connected.  It was great and ever-so-convenient.  And while I was waiting on Sophie at her gymnastics lesson, I used the Xoom to make a dinner date, write emails, and get some online work done!

The Xoom is working for us, and we are loving it!  Oh, and as I write this, I’m using it as a Wi-Fi hotspot because our home internet is being DUMB at the moment. Lifesaver!

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Verizon Wireless hooked us up with a Xoom and six months of service because we sold them our firstborns as part of the Midwest Moms program.

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You could deep fry this fork and I’d eat it.

The title of this post is a direct quote from my friend Gina, said years ago as we enjoyed some sort of breaded delicacy in our university dining hall. Apparently, though, she is not alone (nor was she then – I know we all nodded our heads in agreement at the time) because at our local festival last weekend, forks seemed to be the only things that weren’t deep fried.

Case in point:

Yes, that’s deep fried oreos, deep fried snickers, deep fried twinkies and deep fried buckeyes.

At this (extremely small) festival, in addition to the regular fried stuff – corn dogs, chicken strips, Texas tenderloins, french fries, etc. – and the random stuff in the picture above, I saw deep fried pickles (ok I had some of those and they were delicious), deep fried bananas and deep fried apples. The latter two could be ordered “deluxe” and topped with ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate and caramel sauce, nuts and a cherry.

Obesity crisis? Nah.

(Who am I kidding, the apples with all that junk on them looked freaking amazing.)

What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen deep fried? And fess up – did you try it?

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My name is Jonah

Hi, my name is Jonah. I am nine months old.  Even though neither of my siblings dared to pull up or cruise at this age, I enjoy it immensely.  Mostly I enjoy making my mommy work double-time, but also it’s just FUN!

It’s fun to pull up on the end table:

(and don’t my Mommy’s floors look nice and clean?  She is trying to keep me from putting pine needles and dirt in my mouth!  Which is kind of a bummer because I love them. And also Capri Sun straw wrappers left for me by my big brother and sister. YUM!  Geez, the older I get the more I am realizing that my Mommy is kind of a buzz kill.)

I also like to pull up on the bathtub:

I like to try to pull up on Joshua’s box of cars, too!  It’s fun having big siblings, it provides you with some unique pulling-upportunities.

(And yes, I am wearing shoes with no pants.  You see, my 2nd favorite pasttime – after pulling up – is trying to roll over while Mommy changes my diaper and dresses me.  Sometimes at the end of the day, she will just give up and leave me pantsless.  Since I prefer to be pantsless, I try to give her as much trouble at diaper-changing time as I possibly can.)

But anyhoo – what I really love to pull up on is my diaper pail.  Even though it’s not that tall, it’s full of stinky diapers and the potential for tipping it over is just too tempting!

Mommy dropped a clean diaper on the floor and I got it!! I was really proud. I also wanted to know what it tasted like.

It didn’t taste very good, but it was fun watching  my Mommy run over to get it out of my mouth.  After she took the picture, of course.

Tonight, the coffee table got the best of me.  But I recovered pretty quickly.  Battle scars!! It’s all worth it!  My goal is to be walking by 10.5 months, because that’ll REALLY freak my mom out!

I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going!

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