Visual.....

Sorry, I don't have time to dig up old blasts from the past so I'll leave you with a visual.

Picture it - a three year-old boy that has been fighting a cold for about 4 days. You know, the nice snotty, boogery nose kind of cold. Got that in your head?

Now, picture yourself walking down into your family room and seeing said three year-old on the couch laying on his back.

Now, picture big brother sticking his finger up the three-year old's nose trying to "clean things out so that he can breathe."

I guess they do love each other.

The Christmas Letter.....

Can I just say that I'm stoked that this NaBloPoMo is almost over?!! This is killing me.

This is the time of year when I start to stress about the annual Christmas Letter/Photo. I love receiving them - hate writing them. The last two years I haven't written a letter. We did a family photo in 2007 then in 2008 it was just a picture of the boys. I have no idea what this year will entail.

Do you (or your significant other) write a Christmas letter?
Do you do a family photo or just one of the kids (if you have them)?

Fake or Real?

Get your mind out of the gutter - I'm talking Christmas trees here people.

Growing up, our tree was always real. I remember a few times going out as a family and finding the perfect tree. As I got older and too cool to hang out with my family, I'm guessing my dad would go and cut it down as there weren't tree lots that I can remember. Especially in northern Minnesota.

Now that I have my own family, we have the debate every year. Mike prefers fake while I prefer real. Mike's won out for the past 7 years. I really haven't put up much of a fight though. This year I'm putting my foot down. We are getting a real tree.

Well, we put up our fake tree today. And we're getting a real one tomorrow. I get the real tree upstairs to decorate as Martha Stewarty as I possibly can. The tree downstairs is decorated ala Colton. He picked out the light combo - white lights, then colored than white than colored. I let go of my control issues and let him put the decorations wherever he wanted and didn't move one when he wasn't looking. The only thing I did was put the breakable glass decorations up at the top.

What kind of tree to you have?

The Day After.....

We were in the mall parking lot at 5:24am, got the third parking spot from the front. That's pretty much how our day went - very lucky. We scored some great deals and the lines were not bad at all. Eleven hours of shopping. There was no more room in the car so we had no choice but to stop. Wow - I'm exhausted and pretty sure I'm going to pass out by 7:00.

I picked up a movie for the boys tonight because I knew that I'd have no energy for playing. Got them all set up with popcorn mixed with M&Ms. They're in heaven and momma's happy too!

Tomorrow it's time to haul out the Christmas decorations.

Thanksgiving....

I hope everybody is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was fantastic. We had a delicious lunch with great company. I had hoped to get a family picture, but right after dinner Colton was in his play clothes begging his uncle E to go outside and play football. Oh well, guess there's always next year.

Right now I'm flipping through the ads coming up with a plan of attack for shopping tomorrow.

I had a hot topic for my Thoughts for Thursday, but all save that for tomorrow....

As Brett says, "Thank you for Happy Thanksgiving."

Almost Ready.....

I've got less than 24 hours before I host Thanksgiving. I think I'm ready. I'm putting my turkey in the brine tonight. I'm making Pioneer Woman's mashed potatoes this evening and then all I have left is the stuffing as my guests are bringing all the other fixings.

If I can just keep my house clean between now and 1:00 tomorrow......

Overheard.....

I picked up Brett from daycare today and as we were driving to get his brother, he was checking out the Christmas lights that people already have up and turned on. From the backseat I heard

• ooohhhhh pretty
• cool
• sweet, look at that one mom

Obviously the kid has an older brother.

About a month or so ago, Colton went through bout of forgetting his planner that is supposed to be signed every night. We told him there were consequences if this continues. Well, last night he forgot his planner. Tonight he had to write sentences. As he was sitting at the table, I heard him ask his brother to come over. Here's what I overheard.

"Here, what you're going to do, is write this letters."

"ok bra-bra."

"oh, man, you don't even know how to write."

Spring Break '97 Baby.....

It was April of 1997, three months before graduation and five girls left small town Minnesota for spring break in Cancun. Keep in mind, this was way before all those spring break specials that now put the fear of God into every parent and have made me already decide that my children will never travel without me until they are at least 37.
Here's a picture of two of us at the very first store we went to once we checked into our hotel. Priorities.
We planned our days out well. We'd be up pretty early, eat breakfast at the hotel because it was free and then claim our spots on the beach and just slather on the baby oil and bake in the sun until lunch. In an effort to save our money for more important things like entry fees to the clubs, we'd go buy some snacks and a couple big bottles of water for lunch.

We did venture off the beach for one day of snorkeling on the jet skies with a couple other gals we met that day.

Here's what some hometown girls look like when the drinking age is 18 versus 21.

We apparently got a little comfortable behind the bar one night.

We had such a good time and perhaps should have made a pact that what happens in Cancun stays in Cancun.

Our Oldest.....

Our oldest. He's a cool kid. According to his teacher at conferences, he's "a natural leader, he excels in math and reading and is able to wrap his head around all the concepts. He's a competitive kid." That really is Colton in a nutshell. But for more of the fun details....
He's got a sweet tooth. Anything with sugar in it and he's all over it. Wonder who he gets that from? He does not like getting his picture taken. Usually I have to bribe him or catch him when he thinks I'm taking pictures of something else. He's usually telling me "put your camera away mom, geez."

He loves music and can hear a song once or twice and know all the words. He's got some pretty cool moves on the dance floor too.

He's a great big brother. He's the first to pick at him, but also the first to defend him if he thinks anybody is giving him a hard time.

Colton is a well rounded kid. He's really smart and has a steel trap for a memory with one caveat...if it involves something Mike or I tell him that has to do with chores, he quickly forgets what he's asked to do. While he likes school, he'd much rather toss around the football, swing the bat or shoot hoops.

Our Youngest.....

I was thinking that I'd dedicate a post to each of my children and what they like. Too bad I wasn't the Duggar's or I'd have the rest of my November blog posts and then some.

Brett gets the first post. Being a second child, he rarely gets to be first at anything.
He is a silly boy. He loves to laugh and make you laugh. If you tell him he's funny, his usual response is, "I know."

He loves to be outside and can't seem to get enough of the outdoors. He's a busy little dude. Rarely will he just sit down and relax and rarely does he let you either.

The kid doesn't like his hands messy. It freaks him out. This was torture to him. I wouldn't get a napkin for him until I took his picture.

Brett is our animal lover. He hasn't met a creature he hasn't liked. If I had to guess right now what his profession would be, I'd say a vet, a zookeeper or Peta president.

Love you buddy!

Friday Feature.....

Two posts in one day after 20 in a row. I impress myself sometimes or maybe it's because I've had 2 glasses of wine - doesn't matter.

Here's my "Friday Feature". It's another blog. A very funny blog that my co-worker introduced me to.

Check her out.

Because I've Got Nothing Else....

I don't really get stressed about much - if anything. I'm pretty easy going and don't spend a lot of time worrying about things that I can't control. Therefore I'm a little bit baffled about my constant anxious/nervous feeling that I've been having for the past week and a half. I can't put my finger on it though which is starting to annoy me. Since I've been spending time trying to figure out what I'm so anxious about, I have no idea what to blog about, so instead, I'll answer the questions that I've seen on a few blogs and sip my glass of Cabernet.

1. Did you date someone from your school? I did.
2. What kind of car did you drive? first a chevette and then a Plymouth Sundance

3. What was the most embarrassing moment of HS? I'm sure there are many, but I'm thankful I've been able to forget all of them!

4. Were you a party animal? Not so much for fear I'd get caught and get kicked off the volleyball or basketball team

5. Were you considered a flirt? Yes I was.
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Band - played the trombone and lip synced my way through choir
7. Were you a nerd? I don't think so

8. Were you on any varsity teams? Yes - basketball and volleyball
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No.
10. Can you still sing the fight song? Of course!
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Kaiser and Mr. Koster
12. Where did you sit during lunch? In the cafeteria with whomever else didn't go home to eat lunch

13. School mascot? The Mariners.
14. Did you go to homecoming, and with who? We didn't really go with dates, it was usually a group thing or with my best friend Leah.

15. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Sure, it was a pretty good time.

16. What do you remember most about graduation? The mixed emotions - so happy to be done, but a tad bit sad at the same time

17. Where did you go senior skip day? I don't think we had that.
18. Were you in any clubs? NHS, Riverwatch, Envirothon
19. Have you gained some weight since then? I have

20. Who was your prom date? you've seen all the pictures
21. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I did - it was a good time

22. Looking back, what advice would you give yourself? take a deep breath and realize there is a great big world out there waiting for you.

Cheers.

Thought for Thursday......

This week's thought is about loyalty to your hairdresser.

I went and got my hair colored tonight. I'm back to a much lighter color in case you cared.
I've been "seeing" Kinsey now for about 2 years. There was one period in this 2 years where she was unavailable and I need some hair help STAT so I just picked whichever stylist was available.

I felt guilty that whole time and had my fingers crossed that she wasn't working that day and would see me with somebody else.

So I asked her tonight what goes through her mind when one of her clients is "seeing" somebody else. She was very honest and said, "my first thought is that they couldn't get in to see me, but my second thought is oh, crap what did I do wrong last time, but there are some clients that I'm totally okay with them not being my client anymore."

Are you faithful to your hair stylist or do you just go to whomever is available - do you keep going to the same place or do you mix it up?

Family Time....

Last night was a great time. We met up for dinner with my aunt, uncles and cousin before his concert at First Ave. Here's a little shot of the family members that were there. Our waiter was no joke when it came to taking pictures for us - he was all business making sure we had the perfect shot.
I'm so thankful to be a part of such a cool family.

Concert.....

No time for any deep thoughts or photos of me in formal attire. I've got a concert to go to.

I'm hitting up First Ave tonight to watch Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons. Looking forward to a fun night out, plus I have the day off tomorrow!!

Prom in the 90's......

This episode of Monday Memories is all about prom. I went to four of them which is about 2 too many. At our school you had to be a junior or senior to attend, but if you were a sophomore and were asked by an upper classman (and you parents said yes) you could go.
If my memory is correct, I made a deal with a boy when I was in the eigth grade that I would go to prom with him his senior year. I held true to the promise. We double dated with another couple and had a great time.
Here we are dressed in white. Please take note of the pile of hair on the top of my head and the tails on his tux. Good stuff for the spring of 1995. Moving on to Spring 1996 and my junior year. My date was my boyfriend at the time. If you check out any of the blogs I visit, the guy in the photo below is about to become her brother-in-law.
There are a couple of things that I remember quite vividly from this prom, but I'll only share one. If you notice in the picture, I'm standing sideways. Want to know why? Well, let's just say that it isn't a good idea to touch up your nails about 10 minutes before your date arrives. Why you ask? Well, because you could spill almost a full bottle of nail polish right onto your satin dress. I'm just sayin' it could happen.

Onto my senior year. Spring of 1997. I went to two proms this year. I was dating a guy from our rival town and went to prom with him. We had a great time minus the high school drama from the girls at his school that weren't my biggest fans. Whateva.

I just want to jump into this picture and fix my posture - seriously - stand up straight and would it kill you to smile a little? To my defense, I remember being really hungry at this point in the night. Isn't it weird the things that you remember from a particular evening?

Same year - 1997, different prom. One of my best friends from high school was a year older than me and two years older than her boyfriend (now husband). She was cool with letting us go together. I didn't invite the rival town boyfriend to my own prom because in a small town, you have to snag your dates early, as in the first day of school, and my rival town boyfriend and I weren't dating at the time. It's all about your strategy people - gotta play smart.

I really enjoyed all four proms for different reasons. At that time in my life, they all seemed so important. Looking back now, not quite so much. Good memories though!

Back at you.....

Due to lack of blogging content, I'm throwing a couple of questions back at you.

Back in the day, we had gone on a few camping expeditions with our friends. This was before they all had kids and we only had one. We'd bring games to play during the day, but during the evening, we turned to the book of questions or something similar. Let's just say the last time the book came out, it wasn't pretty for all of us and I haven't really touched the book since.

As I was dusting today, I came across the book "If (Questions for the Game of Life)" and thought I'd open it up for you. Don't worry, I'll keep the questions G-rated.

1. If a photograph of one part of your body were to be used in an advertisement, which part would you want to be used and for what product or service?

2. If you had to name the dumbest purchase you've ever made, which would it be?

3. If you could be a contestant on any game show, which would you like to be on?

4. If you could have been told one thing that you weren't told when you were a teenager, what would like like to have heard?

5. If you could have any music group that no longer exists play at your birthday party, who would you want?

Q&A

First, the most important part. The winner. Congrats Jenny!

What is your favorite store to shop at?
It all depends on what I'm shopping for. If it's work clothes, I like to frequent the Ann Taylor Factory store at the outlet mall just down the road. I do really enjoy Target for the day to day stuff.

Tell us about your date nights, if you haven't gone on one for awhile, where would the two of you go if given the chance?
Mike and I try to have date nights every now and again. To be totally honest, we had one a couple of weeks ago and neither of us wanted to go anywhere or do anything. We were both just exhausted from a long week. The kids were at grandma's and we just sat on the couch, drank some Coors Lights and chatted about how guilty we felt for not doing anything.

Do you like your job and do you think you'll stay in HR forever?
I do really like my job, but like everybody else, there are parts that I would like to not have to do, like sit in on terminations. The nice thing for me is that the company I work for is huge (23,000 employees) so I don't have to do recruitment which I did before and just didn't really dig. As far as staying in it forever - I don't have any plans for a career change. It would be pretty awesome though to own my own store somebody. I have no idea what I'd sell or what services I would provide.

If you were granted three wishes what would they be?
Other than the happy, healthy, world peace etc wishes, I would wish for:
1. Metabolism that allowed me to not have to think about what I throw down the hatch
2. The money and ability to travel the world with my kids
3. And at this very exact moment, I would wish for my children to get along with each other for more than 10 seconds during an entire day.

What is my favorite room in my house and why?
The family room. I like the paint colors, I like that it is big enough to have a lounging area and room for the kids to play. It just suits us well.

Where did you meet your hubby?
Mike and I met at St. Cloud State. We had a mutual friend who worked in my dorm my freshman year. We met a few times before really hitting it off the fall of my sophomore year.

What is your favorite thing to cook for dinner?
I don't know that I have a favorite thing I like to cook, but the first thing that jumped to my mind was a go to recipe that is quick and easy and that my kids also like. I take a box of penne noodles and cook them - drain and put back in the pot over low heat. Then I add a bag of spinach, 4 or so Roma tomatoes, olive oil (I have no idea how much, enough to keep things moist) and a carton of sundried tomato feta cheese. Stir it all up so that the spinach cooks up and the cheese melts a little. That's it.

What was your best vacation and why?
Hands down our 1 year anniversary trip to Maui. It was amazing. It is just beautiful there and smells so good. We were lucky enough to have friends that lived there so they were our tour guides and showed us all the ins and outs that we may not have discovered on our own. Mike keeps asking when we can go back.

Are the elementary schools the easiest so far of parenting?
That's a tough one. Colton has always been a good kid. He's just been really easy going, he does really well in school, but, the past six months or so have become a little more challenging with him. You can tell he's influenced by his friends and other kids much more now than ever and he's only in 2nd grade! Brett's not quite in the elementary phase yet, but has really begun to calm down over the past few months which has been lovely. I don't really think I've answered your question as I think it's yet to be determined.

Tell us three things about you that I don't already know and that many others wouldn't either.
Yikes this ones got me thinking.

1. A girlfriend of mine took the hit for a house party we had in St. Cloud. At the time I lived with 7 other girls and we were having a party. Not a kegger, but just friends over. Within an hour or two the cops showed up and wanted to know who lived there. "T" lived there, but so did I and I didn't confess and she didn't rat me out. She ended up with a minor consumption and my record went untarnished. Still feel a little guilty about that one.
2. I was on the Envirothon team in high school. My team actually made it to state one year. I really didn't know anything to add value to the team, but did my part to be able to label trees, water insects, etc.
3. I can't stand play-dough and I secretly throw it out when I'm helping the boys clean it up to the point that we no longer have any play-dough in the house and hopefully never will again.

That last one was pretty lame, but I can't spill all my juicy secrets!

Jenny - I'll send your prize home with my mom next week so she can drop it off.

Friday Features......

My Friday features this week have no relation to each other except for they are a couple of my favorite "things" right now.


First feature - it's a fantastic musical group that I've talked about before. Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons. The group was featured in a Rolling Stones article in the October 15, 2009 issue along with five others as "a new crop of acts paying homage to their Woodstock and Laurel Canyon predecessors. Sounds like Springsteen with gospel organs, strummy guitars....." Check them out. If you are in the Minneapolis area on Tuesday, November 17th, you can check them out at First Ave.


Second feature - Bath and Body Works new scent - Twilight Woods. I happened to go to the store during the sneak preview. I ended up buying the lotion, a candle and the wallflower. It's a good one.

Thought for Thursday........

This weeks thought - Christmas shopping. Specifically, budget vs. no budget and value vs. price paid.

Last year was the first year I actually had a spending budget for the boys. I tracked everything I spent on them and stopped at a certain point - I can't remember how much it was, but not a whole lot. Our boys are blessed with so many gifts that there is no need to spend lots and shower them with toys that end up getting shoved in the closet.

Part two is what I'm really interested in knowing what your take is. Let's say your budget is $50 on your family gift exchange. Do you spend $50 on that person, or do you buy a gift or two that is valued at $50? For example, you find a sweater that is regularly priced at $50. It just happens to be on sale for $35. Do you spend another $15 or do you consider your $50 budget is met because that's how much the value of the item is?

I tend to lean towards the value versus actual amount spent but have to admit I'm not consistent in my approach.

Talk amongst yourselves and post a comment to share.

Oh - don't forget to leave a question in my 11/11 post for your chance to win a fabulous prize. As of 6:03 on Thursday, your odds of winning are pretty good!

Content and Contest.....

As you can tell from my post yesterday, I'm lacking blog content. So, I'm following the lead of a few fellow bloggers and hosting a contest.
All you need to do is leave me a question that you would like me to answer in the comment section. You have until midnight on Friday - winner selected randomly by a three year old. See? It works for you - chance to win a prize and it works for me - gives me some content for a post on Saturday.
Ask away!

Oh, if you don't have a google account, you can leave an anonymous comment, but be sure to put your name in the comment so I know who you are if you win.

Ramblings.....

I'm beat and my creative juices are not flowing, so here's just a few random thoughts I've had over the past few weeks.

• I bought $76 dollars worth of M&Ms tonight. Why must people make a comment when you buy a lot of one item? Things like, "oooohhhh, you must really like M&Ms" or "you must not be a dentist" or "you must have a daycare". Really? I just didn't have the energy to explain to them that I'm making 100 cookie jars to raise money for breast cancer awareness. I just smiled and said, "yep."
• I've done the math and the average age of those that have the same color and make of my car is 61. Perhaps it's time for an upgrade or maybe just some spinners.

That's all I've got people. That's all I've got.

Monday Memories.....

This is a memory of all those Christmas Card photos we had to do as a kid. Believe it or not, I remember taking this picture I was 2. I remember my pink Snoopy sweater I was wearing. I remember how annoyed I was that my brother had to have his arms around me. I remember so many years later, my brother and me, in our snowsuits - his blue with gray and mine gray with red leaning against a fence post while my dad took no less than 172 pictures trying to get one that was just right. I laugh at this now as I put my kids through the same torment. Ahhhh, it's fun having the roles reversed isn't it? This one wasn't a Christmas picture, but I just couldn't resist. Every body I show this to is shocked how much Brett and I look alike. I was 3 in this picture. I was Red Riding Hood for the next 2 or 3 years after this too. Not sure if it was because I loved the costume or because my mom (her words not mine) wasn't real creative when it came to costumes back in the day.

Just a reminder to those that don't know, double click on the picture to make it larger.

Bring on Monday.....

I can't believe that I'm about to say this, but I'm looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. The kids have tested my patience today and I'm counting down the moments until I can send them off to bed without feeling too guilty. Seriously.

It 's deer season. That means I'm a single parent for the next two weekends. I decided to brave the odds and bring the two boys out in public. Together. The deal was, we'd go to IKEA so that I could look for a few things and if they were good, we'd go to Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America. The trip through IKEA was fairly uneventful. That is until Brett was sitting in a kid's egg chair and Colton spun the chair around so hard that it flipped over. That was a real treat. But, the boys managed to behave themselves for the hour we cruised through the store which was pretty darn good since these two can't seem to be nice to each other for more than 8 seconds at a time.
Here's the boys checking out the turtles. Brett was so confused. He truly thought we were going to go into the water and not just underneath. He kept asking, "when do we go in the water?" Here's a picture of some creepy looking fish.

There were tons of big stingrays swimming all around us. I love those things.

These little dudes were probably my favorite.

The hit of the day though was touching the star fish. Brett had to be reminded that these were alive and that he need to be gentle. He was caught tossing one across the little open aquarium.

Both the boys zonked out on the ride home which was great. We had a good day on single mom day one.

Friday Feature......

During the month of November, on Fridays I plan to post something (or somethings) that I enjoy.

Today, I'm featuring two blogs that I frequently visit. I'm not sure about blog etiquette. Was I suppose to ask permission of these people first? Oh well, guess I'll find out sooner or later.

The first one is All & Sundry. This gal is hilarious! She has two young boys, is a fabulous writer and just tells it like it is. I've laughed out loud several times reading her posts.

The second is Free Sample Freak. Who doesn't like to get free stuff? I have received free granola bars, cereal, chapstick, energy drink coupons, magazines....all kinds of good stuff.

Thoughts for Thursday.......

This week's thought is about household chores and who does what.

I'm curious to know if you have a spouse or roommate if you each have specific chores that you do. At our house we kind of do.

We've never sat down and wrote a list of who does what because from what I hear, that doesn't add a lot of positive energy to your marriage and besides, I know that my list would be a lot longer than by dear hubby's.

Here's an abbreviated breakdown of who does what at our house - oh and let's not call this a list either. Oh, and let's go ahead and agree not to tell Mike that this exists. Deal? Deal.

I take care of all the bills. Not that Mike hasn't offered to do it. I kind of have a wee bit of a control issue and need to remain in charge of this. This did come back to bite me when I spent two weeks in the hospital and Mike had to take over. He was a bit overwhelmed and didn't realize that people actually pay bills online.

I do the grocery shopping. Mike also has offered to do this, but I prefer that he stays home with the kids so I can have a mental break and compare spiral noodles to penne noodles. Oh and I always love to see my % saved at the bottom of the receipt.

I make 90% of the dinners and Mike does 90% of the dishes. I hate doing dishes. He doesn't really know how to cook (other than grilling, so that is his 10% contribution to making dinner), so this works out great for us.

Mike does most of the outside the house work. You know, mowing, weed whipping, shoveling, that kind of stuff. I like to mow, but apparently, don't do it as good as he does. Whatevs.

I also do the laundry which I don't mind doing. Mike's bright enough to offer to help fold when I drop the basket down in front of him while he is watching baseball. He's such a smart man.

Mike is the picker upper and I'm the duster.

OK, my list that isn't a list is long enough.

Care to share how it works in your household?

Wildcard Wednesday.......

I couldn't come up with a fun, entertaining or educational post so instead, here are some random bullets.

• I am hosting Thanksgiving this year. I love it. Actually, I think I enjoy the planning part the best. I'm so type A. I've got my spreadsheet started. It includes the invite list, the menu, the need to buy list, the what in the world ingredient is that list, and the need to clean list.
• I heart Kemps pomegranate and vanilla swirl frozen yogurt. Delish.
• I am glad that I found Paul Newman's southwestern salad dressing at Super Target yesterday. Now, that's some good stuff.
• Am I embarrassed that my first three bullets are about food? Not so much.
• I found out that my oldest child has been asked to practice respectful listening at school. We've got a plan in place to nip that in the bud. Let's just see if he can remember it.
• I ordered Pioneer Woman's cookbook and it's scheduled to arrive on November 9th.
• Marilyn and I have 61 cookie jars to get crackin' on for our Christmas pre-orders. There's still time to order yours if you are interested - just shoot me an email at leahk2121@yahoo.com
• I need to get my window coverings ordered. Our basement is open for any and all to catch a glimpse of our wild and crazy life.
• This 30 posts in 30 day thing is going to be a lot harder than I ever imagined. It's only day four. Ugh.

Interview with a 3 year old

Monday was Brett's first day at his new daycare. I thought it would be fun to interview him and he was game - you know, because he knows exactly what an interview is.

Me: Did you have fun at Tami's?
B: Yes

Me: What did you do?
B: I don't know.

Me: Did you make some new friends?
B: Yes. Five.

Me: What are their names?
B: Scooper (Cooper) and little Josh.

Me: Was there any girls there?
B: Yes

Me: What are their names?
B: I don't remember.

Me: Did you learn about colors today?
B: Yes. Purple. Daddy's favorite color.

Me: Did you have a snack today?
B: Yes. Crackers.

Me: Did you play with the puppy?
B: YEAH!! I ran round and round and round with the puppy and then bonked heads (he just laughed and laughed about this one.)

Me: Do you want to go to Tami's tomorrow?
B: YEAH!

The kid almost fell asleep during dinner. He. Was. Exhausted. I consider this a successful day at a new daycare.

Monday Memories.....

If I am going to be posting everyday for 30 days, I'm going to have to pull some topics out of nowhere because quiet frankly, my life isn't full of wild and crazy stories, which by the way I am completely okay with.

For my Monday Memories, we going to take a trip back to fall of 1996 - my senior year.

For some reason, we always had to take a picture of our team in a pyramid form. We did this for basketball, cheerleading and volleyball. Weird, but apparently we thought it was the thing to do.
I'm the gal on the top with the sweet bangs and the ribbons in my hair.
I'm hoping the girls on the bottom are laughing and aren't really screaming in pain.
Go Mariners!

Trick or Treat.....

The boys were so excited for Halloween. They kept asking me if it was time to trick-or-treat. I made them pose for a few pictures first. Colton as Darth Vader and Brett as a "firefighter man."

We went over to Judy's for our first stop. She was so happy to see the boys and our neighbor who also use to go to Judy's.

Here they are in action. I cannot believe how much candy they got. After about 10 houses, Brett got tired so he and I went home while Mike and the older kids kept on going. It was a great night.