I DO NOT make this stuff up...

The other night my sister was over. We were at the table drawing Halloween pictures with the boys. Jack takes off...no big deal. Well, then he comes back. Looking like the above picture. My sister exclaims, "OMG!" and looks at me like, "Oh no!" I just smile and shrug and say, "I told you I do not make this stuff up. This is my life." She then looks at me and says, as serious as ever, "That ain't no Indy Jones beard. That's a thick Tom Selleck, Magnum PI look." I am laughing right now as I write that...thank goodness I can laugh at all of this - and it gives me good blog material!!

Seriously...

Seriously, Jack. The coat hooks are RIGHT there!!!

Carving Pumpkins...

After a fun filled trip to the Hy-Vee pumpkin patch...(I KNOW I am a bad parent!! But, the weekends have been so rainy and icky that we didn't get to the real pumpkin patch this year...oh the guilt!!) we carved our pumpkins Sunday night. It went as usual...Sam gagged, I ended up scooping out the guts and Jason carved. This was the first time Jack really got into the pumpkin thing. He was so excited to carve the pumpkins...and then lost interest after about 15 minutes and after seeing the guts.

We are so proud of Sam. He actually took off his pumpkin lid this year! Doesn't he look excited!! Each year he gets a little better! Yes, there is an entire story behind Sam's pumpkin issues. It all started when he was just 18 months old, we carved a pumpkin on the kitchen floor so he could see everything that was going on. We took off the lid and said, "Sam, touch the insides!" He walked over looked into the pumpkin and proceed to throw up. Needless to say, pumpkins just aren't his thing...even now.

Jack got right in there. Well, sort of. I had my plastic gloves out and waiting (knowing I was going to have to help with the "de-gutting") and jack thought it would be a good idea if he put some gloves on too. (Is that a slight look of disgust on Jason's face???) Well, Jack dug out a big goop and....

he was done.

We turned the camera over to Sam. As you can see, I am scooping, (with my fancy gloves) Jason is carving and Jack...must be narrating! I had to crop this picture quite a bit due to Sam standing out in our living room...we would hate for him to get too close and get a whiff of pumpkin!

And the final product...an alien for Sam, Sponge Bob for Jack and a Vikings Horn for Jason. (or as Jack said, "Why does dad's have that big smile thing?") Yes, I have a pumpkin, but I chose not to carve mine this year...I am leaving it "ah natural."

Side note: check out that creepy alien reflection on the house, right above the stem of the alien pumkin...what is up with that????

I did it!!

I started running about 2 months ago, well, I really shouldn't say running, I would refer to it as jogging...slowly. I found a program on line called "Couch Potato to 5K in just 8 weeks!" So, I decided to give it a try. The first week I started, I was to jog 60 seconds (yes, SECONDS!) and walk 90 seconds, until a total of 20 minutes. I could go about 45 seconds and I would be sucking wind!! My goal was to run the 5k at The Race for the Cure. I have never, ever ran that far in my entire life. In high school, I was a sprinter and a 300 was considered distant running for me!! Well, the race was Saturday and I DID IT!! I ran the 5k!!

Here is Jason put my "timer tag" on my shoe. I didn't want a timer tag for my shoe. But if I didn't turn it in, I would get charged 10 bucks. So I wore the timer tag. Good foot shot though!

Jason and I getting ready to head out the door for our run. Thank goodness Jason was willing to run with me!! Remember, it wasn't too long ago when he did a triathlon...he is in a bit better shape than I. He was very kind. I had to take a 30 second break up this enormous hill (and I am not exaggerating about the hill..the one NW of the capital..Grand Ave. ENORMOUS! and seriously, why would you end a race on a giant hill???) He said that when he did his tri., he, too, had to stop and walk a bit. (Yea, he had just swam a mile, biked 13 miles and then was running a 5k!!) We had drinks after we got home to celebrate my race...see picture below!

Nothing like a VENTI Carmel frapacino to celebrate! Aren't I a crazy girl!!

That's My Jack!

I went to preschool to drop off Jack on Thursday. The teachers were handing out the pumpkins that the kids had painted on Tuesday. All the kids had solid orange painted pumpkins. The teacher handed Jack's to me and I didn't look at it until I got back into the car. When I did check it out, I started laughing! He had told me all about his pumpkin on Tuesday, but I had forgotten until that minute. He told me how his pumpkin had hair, eyebrows and freckles. And it sure does! I love that Jack isn't afraid to color out of the lines and do his own thing (at times.)

Disney...

This weekend we took the boys to Rock and Roll Disney...they loved it. It was about Mickey and his friends finding people to put on a talent show with them...it was so painful. To pass time, I took pictures during the entire show!! I felt like I went to Rock and Roll hell!

What a great picture Jack...typical. Then I whispered in his ear, " You are going to lose your cotton candy!" (and could Sam's head look any bigger...poor angle Jason!)

Wa La...a pretty good picture!

This was right after intermission. We thought the show was done, nope. Ugh! Jas and I kept looking at each other and rolling our eyes and looking at our watches. But, the boys had fun...and that is what counts! :) Jason and I went to Wicked that night. Alphaba kicks Mickey's ass!!

Cooper...

Poor Cooper lost his arm again. We patched it up and put his arm in a safe place. When it happened, Sam looked at jack and said, "Don't worry, Nanny can fix that for you." I was standing right there...don't you think he could of given me a little credit? I can sew buttons onto things...I surely could sew on an arm! But then I snapped back to reality, put a bandage on Copper (which I do really well) and will make an appointment with Nurse Nanny (my mom) in the morning!

Trick or Treat!

I made these little Halloween favors the other day. I got the idea from Linda, who works with me at Memory Bound. Jack is going to give them to his daycare friends for Halloween. I just hope I don't pack them away or forget where I put them!!

All the little creatures lined up in a row...ran out of eyes for the pumpkins...

They are very easy and quick to make. All I used was Hershey miniature candy bars, color cardstock and a black glaze pen. The decorations (the bat and ghost) are actually ribbon that memory bounds sells. Oh - You can free hand the Frankenstein hair or use the goop punch by Martha Stewart (which I did.) I am making Halloween treat buckets for the boys...I will show pictures of those when they are done. I can share about them, because the boys don't read my blog!!

Mr. Bones...

Jack brought home a pumpkin from preschool last week and immediately wanted to carve it. Well, thank goodness we had to stop at Target and he spotted some fancy Mr. Potato Head pumpkin decorations. This is my kind of pumpkin decorating...no scooping guts or carving. I just made little knife holes and Jack pushed (with a little help) the pieces in with his "mighty muscles." Wa La..Mr. Bones came to life!

Mr. Bones should also have a nose, but it did not fit. The white things coming out of the eyes are actually cheek bones, not ears as they were mistaken for. So you do not get these misinterpretations, I would recommend using a larger pumpkin.

Jack placed Mr. Bones on our front porch, so he could welcome everyone!

Happy Halloween!!

decisions...

I came up the stairs to this: the boys trying to pick put a paint color for their new rooms. Decisions, decisions! Notice all the greens in front of Jack!!

Look What Followed Us Home!

A friend of my mom's has some fabulous old pieces that she wanted to
"pass on" to a good home and lucky me...they get to come to my home!!

This is an old file cabinet. It will have a place in our new sunroom and hold my scrapbooking things!! Isn't it fabulous! I'm so excited!!

This is an old wardrobe that we also brought home with us. Jason fell in love with this and it will also be in our sunroom. It is in amazing condition!

The boys were just an added bonus!

A Vent...

Rarely do I speak poorly of people or places, but seriously...

I went to the store, which will remain unnamed, but I can get a propel, candy, my photos, medication and on this day, to get some packing tape.

I went check out and the gentleman said, "Do you know that you can save more money if you buy our brand of packing tape?" I reply, "Oh, that's OK, but thanks for letting me know."

He goes on..."You know you don't need to get this brand (US Postal Service) it just needs to be clear on your packages."

This is what I wanted to say:
Well, I like this brand. Just like I enjoy a huge cold frapacino on a blizzard day (which I am tired of Starbuck's saying "Don't you know it's 30 below zero and a frapacino is an icy drink?" That's another rant for another day!) Also, your STORE BRAND has less yards on a roll then this brand and my 7 and 4 year old use this tape because it is called the "ONE ARM BANDIT" which means you can hold the box while you tape with the other hand. And if you knew that I had 10,000 boxes to pack, then you would realize that I don't want to mess with your cheap STORE BRAND that I end up throwing half of it away because it folds up on itself or you have to use scissors, and that crap doesn't cut easily. And if you have ever used YOUR BRAND, then you would know that it is thin and doesn't hold and you have to use twice as much. So ring me up and put my purchase in the bag. If I wanted to save money, I would have brought a coupon!

But what I ended up saying was, "I like this brand because I can hold the box with one hand, and you can tape with the other, which is really handy And it has more tape on a roll then your store brand. But again, thanks for letting me know."

Then he asked me, "We have candy bars on sale for 49 cents..."

SERIOUSLY???

Packing...

I honestly do not know where to start the packing. I did get a box and put it into my scraproom with all intentions of beginning, but I just can't pack that room yet. You can see that I even have started a list...with about 3 things on it.

It's a good thing that Jack came along and decided it was time for him to pack. He packed his monkeys, a few legoes, his blankets and Kleenex because he had a runny nose! He told me, "I'm ready to go!" as a friend of mine said, don't you wish it was that easy!

Crime Scene Prank...

A friend of Jason's turned 40 this weekend, so they went out on Friday night to celebrate. Jas got home at 3am and wakes me up, "You have got to look out the window!" I figured it was snowing and thought to myself, "You are seriously getting me up to look at snow." (because I have a terrible time falling back to sleep once woken up in the middle of the night.) So I get up and look out and proclaim, "What the hell?" Well, our friendly neighbor prankster got us again! He used 5000 feet of crime scene tape to COVER our house! Jason and I were laughing and just had to take pictures, yep, at 3 in the morning!!!

A view from the street...

Of our front porch...

Just a view of how each tree and anything else that could hold tape was used....

Then we found this in the morning, the backyard was not spared either! I didn't get a good shot due to it SNOWING and not wanting to go outside, but the tape goes off to the right and around the swing set. On the left it is hooked on trees and all across our patio. It was funny to see cars drive by this am and slow down so they could check out the crime scene!! Jack looked out the window and said, "Oh yea! My wish came true!" Sam looked at him and replied, "What? You wanted crime scene tape all over our yard?" (I am pretty sure Jack was referring to the snow.)

ahhhh...

I was going through old pictures and came across this one of Sam from December 2003. That means he was a little over 18 months old! Ahhh...

Take a Guess...

Can you guess what color Jack is learning in preschool this week?

Our New Home...

Our house has finally sold, so I thought I would post some pictures of our new establishment. (warning: loads of pictures!)

This is taken from the inside of my car, coming down the lane. Wanted to show you the big yards that we will have!

This is the view from the front porch. It is a detached four car garage...Jason is just about beside himself about this "little" addition! You can see our cars in the circle parkway...don't they look at home and so happy.

I am now standing by our cars..this is the attached HUGE two car garage.

I am now standing where the car is parked in the previous picture. This is the water fountain (which has a fish in it) and the patio. Look at all those trees...and fallen leaves...

I am standing at the fountain. This is Jason and the owner taking football in the fabulous sunroom. Check out all those windows...windex will be my new best friend. :)

As you walk around the corner of the sunroom (directly on the left), this is the view of the "backyard." The mower will be Jason's new best friend.

This is a shot back at the house with the sunroom on the left. This is the attached garage, which has sliding glass doors. The owners have a little bar set up right inside. Sam stood behind the bar and said, "Order in the court!" Jack got up on a chair and said, "I'd like a drink." Go figure!

Can you see out nearest neighbors through the thicket???

I came around the garage and took a picture up our lane...it is so fabulous!

This is one of our favorite rooms...the sunroom. I am standing by the windows taking a picture of the "top" section...

and now for a window shot. It is just so calm and peaceful out there.

The only draw back is that they have spiders...big ones! I won't share that with the boys!!

Mummies...

We did our annual "dress up as mummies using toilet paper" the other day. I wrapped up Jack first (duh) and then Sam. Jack was unwrapped by the time Sam was wrapped, so he got a small rewrap...actually a toga. He also did not want his mouth covered, so he looks a little middle eastern.

The boys headed downstairs and proceeded to chase each other around, so the toilet paper would hang off them like "real mummies." I was smart this year and made the deal that they had to clean up any TP that was not on their bodies. I am still finding it nooks and crannies.

You can see where I securely wrapped Jack (a nice belt, boot, bracelet and hat combo.) And of course he had to add the Mario hat (costume was already on!)