Happy Halloween

Today is the big day that the kids have been waiting for. My boys are going to be a gauze-ghoul with flashing red eyes, Darth Vader, and a monkey. Last night I went to a Halloween themed Mommy's group party. The original costume I was going to wear did not make it to my house. I had ordered it from Ebay and the person contacted me saying the package got returned to them completely mangled as if it had gotten caught in a conveyor belt. (What are the chances?) And of course I didn't request insurance, but they are still going to refund my money. That was nice of them, but I was stuck at the last minute without a costume. I did manage to come up with a really goofy idea that was better than nothing. Can you guess what I am? (excuse the picture quality, not sure what happened.)

I am a devil, but with one horn a.k.a. One Horny Devil. Notice the handcuffs too? Yes, it is somewhat lame, but I was trying to be creative on very short notice and utilize things I had in my home, so give me a break! I may still be able to use my original idea tomorrow at another costume party. I am going to see if any local costume shops have it on clearance. I'll keep you posted. Before I left the house, Carson looked at me and said, "Mom, you have some black eyes! And why are you wearing my Darth Vader cape?" Hey, I was desperate people and I loaded on the eye-make up which was kind of fun.




Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry posted about a freaky, but true story and that got me thinking about a picture that I cannot explain. We had a house warming party last October and I took a picture of Cory and my brother Jay. Then looking at the picture, there is a large circle looking image on Cory's sweater. I showed them the picture and they seem to think it's an orb. It didn't show up in any other pictures I took that night. What could it be? We may never know.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

How much is too much?

I like to think I have a healthy relationship with laundry. You see, being organized and slightly neurotic has it's perks. I actually enjoy the laundry process. Yes, y'all I am a strange one. Don't be a hater!

For me I see a challenge, which is to try and keep the laundry baskets empty. The only real problem I have with the laundry is that I don't enjoy putting it away. It will sit all nice and folded awaiting it's journey back into the closets and dressers. The piles have gotten so high at times that my boy's dressers have run out of underwear and socks. Now that will never be the case with my husband. I could go over a month without putting his socks away and there would still be enough for another month's wear. He has the largest reserve of dress socks that I have ever seen in my life. Today I decided to count exactly how many pairs of socks he owns and came up with fifty-one and a half pairs. Seriously. Keep in mind that this does not include athletic socks in which those have their own smaller drawer.

Do you think it's time for a sock intervention?

Another way to recycle plastic bags.

What do you do when you have an abundance of Wal-Mart plastic bags?

Pile them up and jump in them, of course.

This is our red-neck version of jumping in a pile of leaves. Our kids are deprived since we live in a newer subdivision which only has small trees. So, this is the next best thing.

What A Day!

What a day we had yesterday. It started off with my oldest son not feeling well. His temp. was 102 and he complained of a cough, sore throat, and dizziness. The dizziness has been an ongoing issue with him. So, he got to stay home from school and I made a doctor's appointment for him in the afternoon.

Carson and Luke were constantly on each others nerves all day and Carson decided he wasn't going to take a nap, or pick up his toys. So, being the great mom that I am, I gave him 3 chances to pick up the toys. By the 3rd request I informed him that if he did not put his toys away I was going to get a garbage bag out and put every toy that was laying on the floor in the bag and they would be gone. Do you know what that little boy's response was? Are you ready for this one? He replies, "We will just go buy some new toys." Oh no you didn't! I was pretty hot by that response. So I replied back that I would not be buying him any new toys and that we should just get rid of all the toys if that is how he was going to act. Do you know what his response to that was? "Then, I'll just watch T.V." He has a rebuttal for everything I say. Can you say strong-willed?!? (He gets that from me.) So, right now I have a garbage bag half full of toys laying on my garage floor laughing and snickering at me saying, "What are you gonna do now, Mom of the Year?"

So, on with the day. My parents come over during what was supposed to be nap time so that I can take Taylor to the doctor. I go to start my van and the battery is dead. D-E-A-D! Thankfully we have my husband's work van and off we go to the doctor but not before I get my pumpkin latte from Dunkin' Donuts. Simply divine! That was probably the best part of my day.

At the doctors office we arrive 15 minutes early as they requested, for what, I will never know. We continue to sit there for another 20 minutes and finally get into a room where we continue to wait for another 15 to 20 minutes. The doctor checks him out and says he just has a cold that will run it's course, but the dizziness has him stumped. He doesn't know or understand what may be causing it so he has referred us to a neurologist. Now understand that this boy has a great healthy track record. The last time he had to go to the doctor was almost 5 years ago. So hearing this news was a bit unsettling to me.

We make our way home and my husband has just gotten home from an overnight business trip. Taylor asks if he can go in and take bath. Afterwards, as he is draining the tub, Jason and I are in the kitchen and hear the sink gurgling. Now that can't be good. We go down the hall to check on Taylor and there is water slowly creeping from the utility closet and bathroom which are adjacent to each other. I pound on the door to see if Taylor is okay, which he was, but it turns out that there is something clogging the main drain for our entire house and it was all backing up and coming out on our floors. Talk about panic mode. The little boys thought it was great that we had puddles to play in indoors. Not so cute if you ask me. I called my parents and asked them to pick the boys up so Jason and I could get to the source of this and begin the clean up efforts. We ended up having Roto-Rooter come out and $300 later the main drain is unclogged. The culprit: too much paper/toilet wipes caused the back up. We got everything cleaned up and by this time I was more than ready for a cocktail or two.

Let's just hope today doesn't present itself with anymore surprises.

Common Sense?

"Mom can I have a Toaster Strudel please?" asks my 4 year old son.

"Sure, let me make it for you." I reply.

"Do you have to cook it in the microwave?" Carson asks.

Do I really need to answer that? It's not like they're called Microwave Strudels.

Come on!

The Pumpkin Carving

The past few days my boys (or should I say I) have carved their pumpkins for Halloween. Luke the 2 year old didn't quite grasp the concept. I cut the top off and started to de-gut the pumpkin to show him how it's done. I go to help Carson with his and check back on Luke who is now stuffing the guts back into the pumpkin. Dear boy, he's inherited my cleaning genes. Bless his heart. That makes me proud. So, I ended up taking over for him and he was off to other tasks. He comes back in the room with his toy vacuum cleaner and begins to sweep the rug under the table.

Have I mentioned how much I love this boy? One way to a mother's heart is cleaning! At least my heart it is. My oldest son has also inherited this cleaning way of life. He is very organized when it comes to his room and things. Now if I could just get the middle boy to take after his brothers we would be one happy, clean, and organized family. Heaven I tell you.

So, anyway, back to the pumpkin carving. Carson is excited to dig in and get dirty in pumpkin guts. He insists on making it a scary pumpkin to scare the neighbor girls. He’s totally all boy let me tell you. I believe we were successful in creating his view of a scary faced pumpkin guy even though I think it looks really cute. But don't tell him I said that, k? And then on to Taylor’s pumpkin, you know the one that nearly tipped the scales because it was so enormous and caused us to take out a second mortgage. Yeah, that’s the one. I knew I was going to have to pull out the power tools on this one. Who knew how well an electric knife could work on a pumpkin. They're not just for carving turkeys - no joke. My husband first recommended it and I thought no way, but it turned out to be the best tool for the job. When we opened it up I was shocked at what we found. It seemed as if it was trying to sprout new pumpkins within itself. Never before had I experienced that before. It was strange to say the least. Once we got it cleaned out, off Taylor went to create his football guy pumpkin. Enjoy the pictures and Happy Halloween.

Weekend Recap

Updated: By popular demand and to satisfy your curiosity, I have updated this post to include the fashion police mug shot picture of the hairstyle that upset my son.


We had a nice weekend together as a family. The weather has been really mild and unseasonably warmer than usual, which I am not complaining about whatsoever. I love an Indian Summer. We went to a local apple orchard and the boys picked out their pumpkins. I thought paying $.29 a pound was reasonable, but when they weighed all five our our pumpkins and our total came to almost $30 I was a bit taken back. If our yard was big enough I would seriously consider planting our own pumpkins next year. But that isn't going to happen so I guess I should just get used to forking over a good hours wage. Then, when we came home the younger boys wanted to carve theirs, but Taylor was invited to a sleep over so his pumpkin has yet to be carved. Luke's had other ideas with his pumpkin. Instead of taking out the pumpkin guts, he was replacing them with his brothers guts. Oh, well. They had fun and I got good video coverage so that's what counts.

I bought myself a few new pairs of shoes which I know will make Beth proud! I was very impressed at how far Payless Shoes has come. I haven't shopped there in quite awhile, but they actually have name brand shoes now. Imagine that! I do not classify myself as a shoe girl whatsoever. I manage with a few regulars. What more do you need than a pair of black shoes, brown shoes, sandals, and an athletic pair of shoes. Really those are the staples. But I am open to new styles and was in the market for a cute pair of flats to wear with jeans. I have appeared to be successful. What are your thoughts on my new shoe family members? Are they cool or dorky? Seriously I have no clue. Sad but true.

In other news, the neighbors invited us over to watch the Chicago Bears play this afternoon and we were treated to Duck Gumbo. I have never experienced duck before, but was pleasantly surprised. It was very tasty. The kids had a great time playing with their three kids so we actually got to spend some adult time with other adults. It was awesome and can't wait to do it again.

To leave you with a funny story, the other day I decided to wear my hair a little different than usual. Normally I will either wear my hair straightened or back in a pony tail. But, the other day I decided to add a leopard print head band along with a pony tail. I thought it looked really cute and trendy, but Carson had other thoughts. He looked at me and replied, "Why are you wearing that in your hair? You look like a little girl. Now go take it off and put it in your drawer." I never thought I would get fashion advice from my 4 year old son.

A School Assignment

My oldest son who is in 4th grade was given a writing assignment. They were told to write a paper on what they wished for with the title being "I Wish". The following was his actual paper:

I wish I had a Trillion dollars, so I could buy the best house. I'll have the Wii and a movie theater. I'll have a mansion in this country. The mansion would be gold. In my mansion there would be elevators, a mini mall, and my own indoor water park. My mansion would be the best one in the world. I could own a bowling alley. I could own Hollywood and Las Vegas so I could eat for free. I would own a limousine, and could have my own mini golf and arcade. I could have an IMAX movie theater to watch all of my movies. I could buy an Apple Laptop to play all my favorite games. I could buy a Temper-Pedic bed so I can sleep faster.

Whew, is that all?!?!? That is some list. I just hope he gets a good job and starts saving now. What a dreamer my boy is. But it's good to set goals.

Uninvited House Guests

OK - I've about had it. I am ready to pull out drastic measures and call in the professionals. It's these darn pesky fruit flies that are driving me batty - or should I say buggy! They are almost worse than flies. I will be sitting on the couch minding my own business and one of these crazy bugs starts trying to fly up my nose. No matter how hard I try to swat at them and capture them between my hands it is a fruitless effort. Maybe their name should be changed to fruit-less flies. They are so small that it makes it nearly impossible to catch the buggers. What is really bad is when I am drinking my evening glass of red wine and they all invite themselves in my glass where they're having a huge drinking party. Stupid drunk bugs. But, I have found that it is the best time to squish them because they are highly intoxicated and their reaction time is slower. I would love to hear any suggestions of ridding my home of these irritating bugs. In the meantime, bottoms up! I hear bugs are high in protein.

NowThat's an Interesting Color

My youngest son, who is two, likes to drink.

Let me rephrase that.

My youngest son, who is two, likes to drink milk and Gatorade in large quantities. That sounds a little better! He would prefer to live off a liquid diet consisting of those two products than actually eat solid food. So when he does eat a meal he is very picky about what he will actually consume. But back to the drinking problem. I have had issues with Gatorade. Luke had a rash around his mouth for what seemed like the longest time this past summer. I contributed it to being a heat rash or maybe even a food allergy. The doctor said it resembled a classic pacifier rash, but he has been off of that for over a year now. So, I started eliminating things from his diet, which didn't leave much left. Poor kid! It ended up being from the orange flavored Gatorade. The dye in the mix was what was causing his rash, I am pretty sure. Since then we have switched to blue mountain or something like that and a few weeks ago I thought I'd try purple-grape. If you've ever given grape flavored Gatorade to a child still in diapers let me give you a first hand warning before you change their diaper. My child's poop was a frightening shade of green. At first I couldn't figure out what in the world was wrong with him. We had been to the beach and I thought maybe he ingested some of the nasty Lake Michigan beach water. But he continued to have this crazy green poop weeks later. Very nasty stuff. We finally equate this color to the purple Gatorade he has been drinking. It sort of makes sense I suppose. I wonder what the next shade of poop will be when I switch to red Gatorade. I just hope I don't faint at that sight.

Kids Say The Darndest Things!

There are times when my boys can say the funniest thing unintentionally. If I don't write them down they are lost forever. So today I bring you the latest installment of my children's antics and sayings. I hope you enjoy and leave a comment.

• March 9, 2007 - We were having a play picnic inside and Carson (who is 4) holds up an apple and says, "I'm having an appletizer."

• March 24, 2007 - Carson was outside playing on a skateboard and I told him it was time to come inside. He responded, "Not yet, I'm still Tony Hawking!"

• April 3, 2007 - I was telling Carson that tomorrow is Daddy and I's anniversary and asked him if he knew what that meant. He responded, "Cake and presents?"

• April 5, 2007 - Carson was out back practicing soccer since he would be on his first team this year. While practicing he yells out to me, "Oh Mom - I am SO gonna win that trophy!"

• April 8, 2007 - We were having Easter lunch at a nice restaurant in New Buffalo, Michigan and during the conversation I asked Carson what he wanted to be when he grew up. And in a very serious voice he responded, "The Easter Bunny."

• June 24, 2007 - Carson saw a Harley motorcycle parked at a store and replied, "Hey look Mom - that motorcycle has streamers!" in reference to the tassels.

• August 15, 2007 - Carson was watching a video in which a seal popped his head out of the ice. Papa said maybe it was an otter and Carson replied, "No, it's an ice rat."

• September 5, 2007 - We were at Sam's Club and one of the workers saw Luke (who is 2) and said "Hi Baby!" Luke responded back using the exact same phrase, "Hi Baby!"

• The kids love to play the new Wii game system. Carson's name for the remote is "Wii-Mote".
  

There's a new dog in town.

My parents have adopted a new family member and he is adorable. They went to the local animal shelter two days ago to take a look and found this sweet heart. He is just six months old and loves to play non.stop! I don't think my parents knew what they were getting into when they decided on such a young pup, but I think it is really good for them. Our family has always had a dog around from when I was 2 or 3 years old. We love our canines! So it really wasn't a shock to me that my parents wanted to get another dog. Their last dog, Molly, just recently passed away. She was the ripe old age of 12. And like most old dogs, she didn't do a whole lot but sleep, eat and poop. A lot of the time you didn't really even know Molly was around. Now fast forward to today with the new puppy and they have a constant shadow following them around, watching their every move, licking their every crumb that drops on the floor. It's a big change. They are now stuck on finding the right name. We've come up with about 15 different choices, but haven't been able to narrow it down. We could use all the help we can get, so if you would so kind I have created a survey and would love to have any input I can get.

Click Here to take survey

Below are a few picture of me and my old dog Simon who resembles my parents new dog. Freaky!

Wordless Wednesday (even though it's Thursday - shut up!)

Almost 8 months?!?!

Has it really been almost 8 months since my last post? Yikes. Where has the time gone? I am so bad at being a consistent "blogger" or even writing things down for that matter. I originally started this blog to journal the cute and funny things that my boys do and say. They are the laughter in my life and I wanted to have a place where I could document this. But then it turned into more of a chore than being something I looked forward to doing. Part of that is due to my mild form of OCD which I diagnosed myself with (no, I am not a doctor, unless you consider applying band aids and kisses to boo-boo's a form of medicine). I classify myself as a perfectionist and for that reason when I write something, I analyze it to death. Spell check, grammar check, proof read. It goes on and on like I am in some kind of English writing class that I am going to get graded on. And I only do this for myself, not anyone out there who actually might read any of this stuff. So, that is what I get stuck up on. But, I tell myself that I shouldn't let that hold me back. Journaling should be enjoyable and therapeutic. Right? So, here I am back at my attempt and trying not to hold such high standards for myself. I am hoping to learn more about the blog world so here I go. Bear with me!