who's the boss?

me: in the kitchen, doing dishes probably (since that's what I do best)

them: in the front room, sort of playing together, mostly fighting (since that's what they do best)


Here's what I heard (aside from the fightin' words):

"Hey, Danny! You're not the boss cuz Mommy's not in the shower!"


Oh, what funny kids I have.


* * *

Also, you know how you find a great idea on the internet about some kind of activity that will keep your toddler happy. Something that's supposed to be fun. And maybe helpful with their physical development and well-being?

Get a strainer thingee and let them stick pipe cleaners in it. It's sure to be a hit with the little kids.

Two thumbs down.

I have pipe cleaners and strainer thingees so we tried it. Not good. Well, unless you think an activity that keeps them occupied for 3 minutes and makes a huge mess of extra pipe cleaners all over the kitchen floor a success. I don't.

What are you supposed to do when the 3 minutes is over and they're ready to move on to destroying some other area of the house? Make them help you pull out all the pipe cleaners because you might need that strainer thingee for dinner prep. Then you're left with a whole bunch of bent pipe cleaners.

They do make lovely hats though.

keep on the sunny side

I'm pretty good at lots of things.

You already know I'm a pro at washing dishes and cleaning up after my children.

Wiping bums, warming up chicken nuggets and avoiding the ironing pile? Yep. I'm an expert.

Lately I've realized I'm super good at a few more things.

Feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, frazzled, unsatisfied, inadequate, frustrated, unhappy? Oh, yes. I've got those covered too.

In an effort to get out of the funk and get over to the sunny side (I really wish I would just stay there all the time but dang, it's hard sometimes), I've been trying to really take note of all the little (and biggish) things that make me happy. I've got 5 index cards full of notes I've been jotting down so I won't forget.

From the top:

Cate and her daddy having a tea party. That girl loves a tea party. She's quite the hostess. She was tickled pink that Dan was playing along with her. I was tickled pink that he didn't break that yellow chair.

Vintage Halloween decor. I brought in this spider that my grandpa macramed many years ago. It's been hanging in the back garage. Spooky, huh? I'm thinking it would look pretty cool spray painted black.

The cold front blew in. I'm happy to be wearing my clogs again. I feel like that picture makes my legs look weird and my feet look really small. Oh, well. The clogs are back. I like them.

That goofy kid. I really have no idea what he was thinking. This picture was taken before the cold front blew in though. He's just a silly boy. And now the neighbors all know it since we were in the front yard.

My new favorite treat. I've tried honey blueberry, honey strawberry and honey flavored. I love them all. I have to restrain myself though since it's not fat free and holy cow that stuff's not low calorie. It satisfies my sweet tooth (sometimes) and I figure it's a little healthier than stuffing my face with chocolate.

Fancy dollar store Halloween decor. The skeleton, that is. The spider. We made them. Actually, I made them. The kids watched impatiently. And that poor spider is hung where it's hung because there was already a nail in the wall.

A package from a kind soul. Cate saw it and said, "Oh, that's for meeeeee!"

Turning 5. He's happy about it so I'm happy about it. Not sure why I shouldn't be. Am I supposed to be saying stuff about boo hoo I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast? Well, I'm not saying that stuff. I like it when kids grow. They're more fun that way. I liked him when he was a baby and I like him even more now. The end.

A budding make-up artist. Cate's been wearing that princess dress almost every day for weeks. It makes me happy because, well, it makes her happy. She saw me putting on my make-up and wanted some of her own. That other stuff I made her isn't cutting it anymore. I gave her some blue eyeshadow I bought at the dollar store. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was spectacular. On her nose and her mustache? Priceless.


OTHER HAPPY STUFF NOT PICTURED:

Cate and I were out driving one day. She pointed ahead and yelled, "Look at the mountains, Mom! There's snow on them!" I said, "I know. Aren't they beautiful?" She sat back in her seat and started singing God Bless America. She didn't get very far because she doesn't know all the words yet (like her brother does) but that's ok. It made me happy that she was inspired by those snowy mountains.

Danny said, "I can't decide what I want to be when I grow up. A police officer or a doctor or a hospitaler or a dad." I guess he could choose dad and one other. But I'm not really sure what a hospitaler does so maybe he could pick dad plus two of the others.

Halloween hand soap in a black dispenser with a spider on the front that Grandma gave us. Smells like marshmallows. A certain little boy came into the room making spitting sounds because he "accidentally" got some of the soap on his tongue. I can't blame him though. It does smell quite tasty.

Danny thinks my blueberry oatmeal smells yucky. He tells me to eat it in another room. He tells me this when I'm standing in the kitchen. I'm not sure what other room he'd like me to eat it in. It doesn't make me happy that he thinks my oatmeal stinks. It makes me chuckle which is a form of laughing and that's what you do when you're happy so close enough.

He asks for Fruit Hoops every morning for breakfast since it's his favorite cereal. It makes me happy that he'll actually eat breakfast nowadays. For a while there he just ate bread.

My favorite video came on the tv today (ahem, for that extremely brief moment that it was on) and the kids yelled at me to come watch because they know it's my favorite. I did lots of dancing and singing along in the 4 times I made us watch it. Rewinding live tv on the DVR makes me happy.

Cate was drawing with her Smarties candies this afternoon. The ones she got from her preschool Halloween party. She was sitting on my bedroom floor while I was getting dressed. She arranged the little candies in some kind of pattern and said, "Two little boobies and a belly button. Done. It's you, Mama!" I'm not happy about the little boobies. I am happy that she can see art in a bunch of Smarties candies.

Cate was watching Despicable Me (for the eight millionth time) in the front room. When it was done she yelled, "Hey, guys! There's a dance party in here!" We like to dance to the music at the end of movies. They call it a dance party. Tangled is another good one to dance to during the closing credits.

Kids who use the toilet ALL BY THEMSELVES. Oh, I never thought this time would come. It's here and I'm happy about it.



More happy stuff:

Look at those cute kids of mine. Good gravy. They're adorable. Thanks to the preschool party, I've got cute pictures of them in their Halloween costumes during the day in good lighting with smiles on their faces. Now the pressure's off to get a good picture on Halloween night. Phew.

I asked Danny what he thought his teacher would be dressed like. His answer: a weed.



How could seeing this kid all decked out in almost every piece of princess gear that fits her (plus fairy wings) not make me happy? Oh, I know how. When she gets out of bed at night, turns on the light and puts it all on instead of going to sleep. That's how. Otherwise, nothing but happy. The fact that she put all that gear on all by herself and then came to me to show off, pure happy.



This one's a big happy:

Hard Puppy has been found! Danny's slept with that mangy mutt his whole life. It's filthy and floppy and smells kinda funky. He won't let me wash it. It was missing for 3 nights. He slept anyway but I was worried. I could tell he was a little worried too. Then friends came over to play one morning and got out the big trucks. There was Hard Puppy, shoved in the back of the plastic garbage truck. Danny likes to hide him from me so I won't wash him. He must have shoved him in there and then forgot about it. Very happy about finding that guy.

See, there's lots of happy stuff all around. I guess I just have to carry around a little yellow index card with me wherever I go so I can jot it all down. That way I won't forget.

ten things I learned at the pumpkin patch

1. In order to cram the maximum number of people on the tractor-pulled wagon ride, there's no place to sit. Well, there is a place to sit. It's called your bum. On the hay (or straw, I can never get those two straight). Not bales of hay. Just scattered hay. Hay bums. Straw bums. Those preschoolers, they just plop right down. Those old mamas, they have a harder time. Then they have to cross their legs so that all those kids and moms can get crammed on the wagon. Ug.



2. If there's an opportunity for my kids to fight about who gets to stand where for a picture, they'll take it. Every time. Especially if there's a line of people waiting to take their kids' pictures in front of the ginormous pumpkin photo op.



3. Little boys like to jump. Doesn't matter how high. Doesn't matter if their mom is getting tired of standing there watching them jump. They just like to jump. Over and over and over again.



4. The sandbox filled with corn is a lot more fun to play in without all those big kids jumping around and throwing corn. Also, expect to find stray kernels in random places when you get home.



5. Remember how they like to fight about where to stand for the pictures? Same thing goes for where to stick their heads for pictures.



6. Cate will totally be the one to ride all the fast roller coasters with me at Six Flags some day. Totally.



7. I'd enjoy the slide a lot more if I could ride the escalator to the top of the hill. After the third time I was done. Cate, on the other hand, was not. She's a real thrill seeker.



8. Now I know why moms try to send the dads on preschool field trips.



9. Remember how they like to fight about where to stand and where to stick their heads for pictures? Same thing goes for the horsey swings. Please tell me I'm not the only one.



10. If you wait until the end of your stay (that means when the kiddos are grumpy and you don't want the other moms staring at your grumpy kids anymore) to pick your pumpkins, they're going to be too tired to walk all the way over to the actual pumpkin patch to pick them out. They'll be happy to pick one from the pumpkin stand next to the exit instead. Don't be surprised when you get home and one of them asks when you're going to go to the real pumpkin patch though. Don't bother trying to explain to them that you just spent the past 3 hours at the real pumpkin patch. It won't work.

happy birthday to you and you

Happy birthday to the best mom I've ever had.

She'll want to kill me for using this picture but that's a chance I'm willing to take.

Look how cute she is.

* * *

And happy birthday to one of the best little sisters I've ever had.

Pretty sure she won't kill me for using this picture.

Look how cute she is.

{the one standing in the back holding my other little sister}

Happy birthday, you two.

Love you both!


p.s. Thanks for sharing a birthday...one less thing I have to remember.

red's my color

Do you suppose I should post something boring, frivolous and blah blah blah before I show you more goodies I found whilst cleaning out the garage?

No?

Good.

How do you like my new (to me) winter coat? It's red. I really do like red.

It's made of something super duper soft and it keeps me toasty warm. Well, at least for the afternoon I wore it. Then the weather warmed up again and it's just hanging in the closet waiting.

I'm hoping the sleeves grow a good 3 inches while it's hanging in there or else my wrists are going to get mighty chilly this winter.




I always knew my grandma had excellent taste. I'm assuming Cate thinks so too. Either that or she's wondering why her crazy mama is taking pictures of herself in the window of the new back door.

Probably that last one.

And the purse.

I like it.

I don't own many purses because I've been toting around a diaper bag for the past 5ish years. I don't need the diaper bag anymore. I need a purse. I'll use Grandma's old one for now. I've seen uglier so I think it'll do.



Danny came around the corner just as I was taking this picture of myself wearing the wig I found. I love the look on his face. Once again, a child of mine wondering what's going on with that crazy mama.

I'm sure if I chopped my hair short and stopped getting my grays colored brown that's a pretty good idea of what I'd look like.

Amazing. I know. I'm almost tempted to just do it for reals.

* * *

One last find for the day.

Something that brought a few tears to my eyes and a little lump in my throat.

I stuck my hands in the pockets of that red coat and here's what I pulled out:



A kleenex and a partially sucked on breath mint wrapped in wax paper.

Made me miss my grandma and feel thankful for her little quirky habits.

And her stylin' red coat.

the weekend

So I'm going to pretend that the weekend starts on Friday morning. It's my weekend so I get to decide when it starts.

We got to play with Ray Ray in the morning so his mommy could go on a field trip with his big brother. When I told Cate that her favorite cousin was coming over she squealed with delight. And then she said something like, "Oh, goody! I wuv Way Way!"



Danny wuvs Way Way too.

Aunt Judy got home and watched Danny while I took Cate to do some shopping for Christmas presents. Some of them were even for her. She was so busy roaming the aisles telling me what Santa could bring her that she didn't notice when I put pink girly stuff in the cart.

We went back to Ray Ray's house later so the cousins could play while my wonderful husband took me on a date.




I'd been craving steak for a while and the roadhouse did not disappoint.




Saturday morning I made a few loaves of double chocolate loaf with peanut butter cream cheese spread. One for us to eat. One for my Ute loving neighbor. One for the new neighbors we still haven't met.

On the other side of that Y tag I wrote something about hoping they love eating the chocolate loaf as much as we'd love watching BYU win. Lame? Maybe. But I really wanted to make that recipe and any chance I can get to provide my neighbors with some kind of treat wrapped in blue, I take it.

We put the kids down for Quiet Time, Dan turned on the football game and I headed out back to do some organizing and cleaning in the back garage.

I found some good stuff.




I love that my grandma saved these old milk bottles. See that little poem?

Once I met a little girl
Whose skin was white as silk
For every day, beside her plate
There was a glass of milk


And it looks like lots of lattice top pies are in my future with this handy gadget.



Ok'd by experts. Used by housewives.

I love it.

Know what I love even more? What brought tears to my eyes (but not so many that they flowed over and actually made me cry about furniture because that would be weird)?

This.



I found it in the far corner. Covered with a sheet. Boxes stacked on top.

It's getting painted soon and then it'll make itself at home next to the dining room window.

Anybody know how to get all that crud off the glass?

* * * *

And to wrap up the weekend, Sunday.

Leftover pizza for second breakfast.
Church meeting.
Church (where the kids were on their best behavior - hallelujah!)
Popcorn for dinner.
A failed attempt to meet the new neighbors.
Long bath for Cate.
And kids in bed at 7:30.


the end

madame butterfly

Yesterday after preschool we stopped by Kid to Kid to look at their selection of Halloween costumes (because I'm the mom who doesn't sew).

Danny didn't know what he wanted to be this year.

Cate knew. She wanted to be a princess. No offense to Cinderella and her ladies, but that's not what I had in mind. She's already got a few princess dresses but they all "tickle" her when she wears them. That means they're itchy. I knew there was no way she was going to wear one of her princess dresses for the duration of the trunk-or-treat at church and then trick-or-treating around the neighborhood (and maybe even around the cousins' neighborhood too).

She saw a purple butterfly costume (after trying on zebra, giraffe, penguin and chicken costumes that were all too small) and decided that was the one. She tried it on. It was a pretty good fit, except that I couldn't do up the snaps in the crotch. Too small. Then I kind of wondered why a costume that fits a three-year-old would have snaps in the crotch. A quick look at the tag and come to find out, it's a costume for an 18-24-month-old.

Ooooops.

Too late though. I knew there was no going back. I'm hoping I can get my neighbor to rig up something to keep the crotch piece together. Some kind of extension piece with velcro. At least the hat thing fits. It's actually a tad big. I'm not sure what kind of 18-24-month-old has a head that big but I don't really care. The costume search is done.

And I can't tell you what costume Danny picked out. It'll be a surprise. Unless you ask him. Then he'll most likely tell you. I like to try to keep some things a secret. It annoys people.

Best part of the costume shopping trip, both kids telling me they needed to use the restroom, while I was standing in a long line waiting to check out. But they didn't tell me at the same time. Oh, no. Danny waited until after I had taken Cate (and lost my spot in line). I asked him when I took her if he needed to go too. He said no. He lied. So I lost my spot in line twice. You know I still love them anyway right?





IN OTHER NEWS:

I went to Costco while the kids were off learning that letter D is for dinosaur. Lookee what I found for Aunt Suzy. A mini Hello Kitty fridge. And when I say mini I'm not messin' around. I opened it up to take a peek inside. Looks like it could hold at most 3 cans of your carbonated beverage of choice.

Danny asked me where he was born. I told him Utah. He asked me where I was born. I told him Texas. Then he looked at me in wide-eyed amazement and said, "You were born where all the cowboys live?" Funny thing is, there's probably just as many cowboys living where he was born and he doesn't even notice. I guess next summer we'll take him down to Main Street to watch the parade dedicated solely to COWBOYS and their horses. A whole parade full of cowboys. And maybe go to the rodeo too. Hello, cowboys again.

Cate said to me the other day, "Mommy, I'm going to do a silly dance. You watch me and then you laugh, ok?" She's a funny kid.

The kids learned about circus stuff last week in school. They came home wanting to show me how to juggle. Oh, it was quite the sight. First Cate just went through the motions with her hands. Flailing around her head. No balls. Just hands. Then Danny got in on the action and thought the little oranges on the counter would make wonderful juggling balls. Except he only used one orange. He showed me how to juggle with one orange. I got a good laugh out of watching him concentrate so deeply on catching that one orange over and over.

I made breakfast for dinner last night. French toast. I burned the bacon. It was turkey bacon which almost doesn't count as bacon in the first place. Burnt turkey bacon is not good. Trust me.

Danny asked me to sing the wah wah song the other day. I had no idea what the wah wah song was. He said, "You know. Wah wah wah wah wah. Gooooooooooo cougars!" Oh, the BYU fight song. Why didn't you just say so? We've got to do something about helping that kid find his R's.

I'm pleased to report that the dining room table is cleared of all Dan's possessions. Now we can't eat off that table because the kids spread stickers, sequins, wiggle eyes and crayons all over it.

An after dinner conversation with my son last night:

When are you going to be nice to me and Cate today?

I have been nice all day! (I really had been. No grouchy stuff from them or me.)

Not all day. Remember when you told me and Cate you didn't want to listen to us on the way home from preschool?

Yes. That's because you were fighting and I didn't want to hear it anymore.

Oh.

Have I been nice the rest of the day?

Naaaayeah. (no and yes combined maybe?)

Then I said sorry and gave him a hug and a kiss and he told me I get beans in my jar.

And last but not least, I love fall. The sun goes down and the kids go to bed. 7:30 last night. It's the stuff dreams are made of.

nine on the ninth

Morning snuggles with Daddy: I like to send the kids in to pester Dan in the morning. Sometimes they go in and pretend they're very loud roosters. Chock a doodle doo! Chock a doodle doo! (That's how Danny says it.) This morning it was Cate and snuggle time, except she's pretty squirmy and I'm not really sure how much of it counts as snuggling.

Tears at 9:00: You know, Sunday morning is not my favorite. I think it's tough on the kids too for some reason. Isn't Sunday morning supposed to be relaxing and peaceful? What are we doing wrong? I ask myself that weekly. I have no answers other than they like to pester each other in the mornings too, not just their daddy.

Building a house: Uncle Tim and Aunt Kym gave Danny these cardboard blocks a few years ago. They are the bane of my existence. The kids love them. This is the house they built in the middle of the floor this morning (after those tears were wiped away). Those five blue blocks outside the wall are flowers. So clever. It makes my heart happy to see them playing together nicely. It doesn't last long sometimes but I'll take it.

Candy corn: White chocolate's not my favorite but those m&m's people are so clever sometimes. Grandma gave us this bag of candy yesterday. I opened it after church today and started wondering what kind of baked goodie I could make with them. Cookies maybe. Or just let the kids eat them. Probably that last one.

Speaking of candy corn: My amazingly talented friend Janell made this dress and tie for my adorable kidlets. Danny was not happy about posing for the picture. Nothing new about that. Funny thing about candy corn, I think they taste horrible. They sure look cute as a dress though. Thanks, Janell!

Church gives me a headache: Just kidding. Kind of. I was hungry. I ran home with the kids...in heels. I was tired. The headache stuck around for a few hours. I popped some pills and went to lay down in my bed. I asked Dan in my sweetest voice to not let the kids bother me. Ha. They never came banging on my door but I did hear Cate running back and forth from her room talking in a loud voice that Mommy has a headache.

Dan's organizing project: So he's trying to clean out the garage one box at a time. I'm not sure how many boxes are currently spread out all over the dining room table. I look at that pile of his precious stuff in wonder (as in I wonder if we'll ever eat dinner on that table again) and awe (as in ahhh, man. are we ever going to eat dinner on that table again?).

The last of the garden tomatoes: We ate them for dinner tonight. BLT's. I had the carb-free BLT. L on the outside. B and T on the inside. Lots and lots of B. There's still plenty of green tomatoes clinging to the vines. I'm just wondering if they're going to make it to adulthood now that it's coldish out. Dan said they will. I better buy more bacon.

Pictures from yesterday: I scrolled through the pictures from my nephew's wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful day. The ceremony was lovely. It gave me a lot to think about. Made me want to be a better wife and mother. That's always a good thing. My kids were mostly good. It was a long day. Promising ice cream and cupcakes always helps. Playing with cousins was good too. More pictures of the wedding festivities forthcoming.


And since they're just so ding dang cute, more pictures of my little candy corn and her grouchy sidekick.



And since I like to make myself feel really old sometimes...


I remember what I was doing on 10/9/87 at 6:54:321 p.m. (I don't really know how to punctuate for that last 1. Does it need another semicolon and then a zero?)

Freshman year of high school. I was in the marching band. We were playing our warm up stuff before going onto the field for the pregame show at the football game. My band teacher stopped the warm ups to tell us what time it was and to recognize that it was 10/9/87.

And then the very next Friday night the announcer at the football game came over the loudspeaker and let everyone know that the rescuers had pulled baby Jessica out of the well. We cheered and hugged each other.

I remember weird stuff.

And I feel really old now.

a conversation before bed

Danny, are you going to have a wife some day?

Yes.

Do you know what a wife is?

Yes.

Whose wife am I?

Daddy's!

Yep. Are you going to get married and have a wife and love her more than you love me?

I'm never going to love anybody more than you...ever!

{Commence the big hug and slobbery kisses}

I love you a hundred zillion million thousand billion zillion million zillion...and seven!


* * *


If he ever changes his mind, I hope I'm too old to notice.

photo by the lovely Christie

halloween by jerry seinfeld

Here's another of my favorite books. Very appropriate for the season too.

Halloween by Jerry Seinfeld.

You know who Jerry Seinfeld is right?

If not, I don't think I can be your friend anymore.



If you love Seinfeld like we do (so far just Dan and me in this family but someday I hope my kids will have a sense of humor and they'll appreciate him too), then you'll love this book.

Even if you don't love Seinfeld (and you're ok with not being my friend) but you do love Halloween, you might still love this book.

Just look at that picture. Little kid Jerry dressed in his Superman costume with his winter coat on top. Head hung low because now who's gonna be able to see his awesome costume?



I haven't read this book to my own kids yet. I've shared it with my elementary aged students and they loved it. I read it at a few faculty meetings back in the day. Of course the teachers all got a good chuckle.



The best part about my copy...it comes with a CD recording of Jerry Seinfeld reading the book! I love it.

Get your own copy or come on over and borrow mine.

It'll cost you though.

Since it's Halloween season and I'm feeling nice, you can bring me some kind of pumpkiny treat and it's yours (but not for keeps).

And make sure that treat has some chocolate chips in it somewhere or you're going to be leaving empty handed.

we've been doing stuff

The cousins slept over at our house on Saturday night. My idea. I take all the blame for the feelings of tiredness the next morning. The last time I walked out of Danny's room (where all three of them were on the bottom bunk) it was 12:22 Sunday morning. I told those 3 boys I didn't want to hear them again until morning. And I meant it.

I should have been more specific and given them a time that would be acceptable to wake up. Something like 10:00 maybe. Danny was awake at 7:30 and didn't want to be awake all alone so he woke up Kris. Late to bed, early to rise. That's my boy.



Cate let me fix her hair into loads of cuteness Sunday morning before leaving for family dinner at Aunt Cindy's house. Dumping out the entire bag of tiny elastic bands helped keep her occupied. I love having a little girl with longish hair. It's something I used to only dream about.



Cate and cousin Rusty tickled the ivories together. More like piano pounding, but tickling the ivories sounds much more sophisticated.



Those rambunctious kids of mine had a blast beating up their Uncle Tim (once they got over their shyness since they don't see him very often). Cate had fun doing her karate chops over and over and over again.

Danny's got Uncle Tim's head in the Leg Scissors in that middle picture. What you can't see is Cate standing on her uncle's back giving him karate chops to the head.

And then Cate's turn with the Leg Scissors. Uncle Tim is a good sport. He should be since he's the one that was encouraging them and playing along. He might have even started it all.

All the while, Grandma (and probably others) watched in horror as my sweet darlings played smackdown with their uncle. I take no blame for this. Dan's the one who taught them how to wrestle. They like it. Who am I to stand in their way of fun? I know a lot of people don't allow hitting or Leg Scissors in their homes but we're obviously not those people. You should see the Toe Hold and the Judo Flip. Good stuff.




I went to bed Sunday with a dreaded feeling that Monday was going to be a loooong day. Sometimes I just do not want to wash dishes or fold laundry or tidy up or make the bed every morning. So I decided that I wasn't going to do all that fun stuff Monday morning. We went to the farm instead.

Danny's not plugging his nose because of the farm smells. He was disgusted by the smell of the cheesy snacks that Cate had just been eating on the drive over. It's kind of funny that there just happens to be a lady's bum right next to him in the picture though.




When I told the kids we were headed to the farm they wanted Ray Ray to come too. So he did. It was his first time at the farm and he loved it. A little too much. That kid was trying to run all over the place. Aunt Judy had given me his new puppy dog kid leash/backpack combo apparatus to wear so wear it he did. That was an adventure since it was the first time he'd worn it. He needs to be leash trained. Just because you want him to stop trying to run away so you tug on the leash a little doesn't mean he'll stop trying to run away. He fell down. More than once.



The ponies were a big hit this time. Unlike our past visits. No scaredy cats this time.



Just smiles. Except for Ray Ray. He was a scaredy cat.



And then we were done. I was certainly done. It's a workout chasing around 3 little kids at the farm.



Danny played at the cousins' house and Cate went to Costco with me. We shared a slice of pepperoni pizza for lunch. As we were eating, Cate turned to me and said, "Mommy, that grandpa is grumpy!" That grandpa was sitting just a few tables away from us but I'm pretty sure he didn't hear her.

I asked her why she thought he was grumpy. She said, "Because he's grumpy." Well, duh. So I asked, "What part of him makes you think he's grumpy?"

Her reply, "He's eyes!" (meaning his eyes but you know, she's 3 and that's how she says it)

You know what, she was right. He's got those eyebrows that just naturally look kinda pointy and make him look mean and/or grumpy.

Can you tell from this undercover candid photo I took of him?



We came home and I got started on a little project. As I painted that chunk of wood I realized how all those crafty moms do it. You know, I see all that stuff they do and make and create and I wonder how on earth do you people do it? don't you have dishes to wash and laundry to fold and beds to make? how do you have time to paint stuff and make stuff? where are your kids? what's wrong with me?

Well I think I know. You just ignore stuff. The dishes, the laundry, the beds...and especially the kids. That's it right? Ignore stuff. I think I like that plan.




I took advantage of the nice afternoon weather (which is now gone, replaced with rain and cold) to do a little cleaning out of the back garage and shed. I found these two old screened windows. Not sure what to do with them so we just keep on keeping them stored in the shed. They're vintage. Vintage is cool. At least that's what all the cool kids say. Too bad I can't think of anything cool to do with them.




Look at these vintage steel wool pads I found. 10 cents each!



Kris came over to play after school and he and Danny worked on Halloween decorations. Halloween decorations made from Easter stickers Grandma gave us on Sunday. Oh, yes. We're so crafty around here. I told Danny he didn't have to smile at the camera, just pretend like he's busy. So he made pinching motions with his fingers. I love that kid.




I made a semi-gourmet meal of turkey sausage, mac and cheese, peas and grapes. I'm well on my way to writing my own cookbook and getting a show on The Food Network, wouldn't you say?



And then I walked around all day Tuesday with a big chocolate donut on the back of my head.




After preschool today I took Cate to the dinosaur museum. Just her and me. She loves it there. Especially the dark room with the stars. She ran through it over and over and over again singing her version of the Star Wars song at the top of her lungs. It's a good echo room.



The digging for bones room was quite thrilling today. She uncovered a new section of "bone" and yelled, "What is that, Mom? Oh, my gosh! What could it be?" I've got a budding paleontologist here.

Then we picked up Danny and ate dinner at Chick-fil-A. Dan missed out because of stupid parent/teacher conferences.

I put kids to bed early and then enjoyed watching The Office whilst Dan laughed out loud so loud he almost woke up the kids.

That's all, folks.