Tree Farm

Sweet

At least they were used once

The creative cutters in action.

Had to do something to keep them busy. ;)

It never looks like the picture

Pillsbury's Turkey Cookies

Our Turkey Cookies

Kraft's Snowmen

Our Snowmen

At least it all tastes good. :)

The Year of the Nutcracker

The kids and I watched the Barbie Nutcracker movie last night. It was cute!! I liked that version of the Nutcracker better than any other version out there. And then I heard on the radio today that Macy's annual holiday display is the Nutcracker this year. Yay!! I'm definitely signing us up for that one.

Whoops

Guess what happened to me last night...


Yep - big fat blowout. (Granted, that's not a pic of my van and tire, but it looked almost as bad.) I'm getting to be on first name basis with 1-800-RO@DSIDE (what with the flat tire last spring and locking my keys in the car over the summer).

Worst part about all of it, was that it happened at 5:35pm and daycare closes at 6:00. My kids were there until 6:30. Daycare's policy is a $1 extra per every minute that you're late. I'm hoping they'll take pity on me and let this one slide. We'll see...

It looks like for Christmas this year, I get 4 new tires for my van. Ho ho ho!

Typical

I got invited to a PChef party yesterday. I wasn't going to buy anything, as we really can't afford it right now, but we all know how that goes. Here is what I thought I just couldn't live without. (How much do you want to bet I never use my zester or my creative cutter set.)

For all of the Xs out there

X coworkers that is. Guess what time it is?! Yep! Layoff time. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a big fat pink slip. Ho ho ho!

Aren't you even more glad that you left?

The pinning

On Monday night the kids and I got to go to the first 10 minutes of drill with Brian, so we could pin his new captain's badge on him. It was so bad. Brian was standing up in front of everyone and we got called up to go and pin him. Think the kids would cooperate??? NO!! I had to carry Jayda, and Brady clung with both hands and buried his head in my leg. It was a sheer miracle I made it up to the front without tripping or my pants falling down. Silly kid. Of course, everyone thought it was cute. Gah. When we got back to our seats Brady turned to me and hissed "that was not fun!"

Here is our happy family picture. Notice Jayda isn't smiling and Brady is still burying his head.

Awww

Yesterday my neighbors brought home a dead deer and were cleaning it in their garage. Jayda and Brady went over to see it. I guess they don't understand the whole dead thing, because Jayda told the deer to wake up and didn't understand why it wouldn't. There is no way I'm going to try and attempt to explain deer hunting to them; especially since we've always taught them never to hurt animals. Guess the sleeping deer will remain a mystery until they get a little older.

Trick or Treat

My mom came into town last night for the sole purpose of handing out candy to trick or treaters while I was out with the kids. She had so much fun. I swear she talked to each and every trick or treater and she made each of them say the whole "trick or treat smell my feet... " rhyme. When we got back from trick or treating, the kids passed out candy with her. I think they enjoyed giving as much as they enjoyed getting. :)

Weekend Pics

We had a fun-filled weekend: Birthday party for our old next door neighbor (they rented a pony for an hour), halloween party at the FD, and pumpkin carving. Both kids love their costumes this year. Poor little Brady can hardly see out of his eye holes though. I tried on the mask and could barely see either. (Guess they really do make the costume so kids are blind as a bat.) Of course when I suggested cutting the eye holes to make them bigger he immediately screeched NOOOO and almost started crying. The kid's going to be stumbling around all over the place on Wednesday night.

The last of the Mohicans

More

We went to the zoo today and then to the rehersal dinner - Mexican food. Yummy!!

Vacation Photo Update

Almost non-vacation vacation time

So I'm wrapping things up. I'll only be at work for a half day tomorrow and then its home to pack and bring the dogs to the boarding kennel. I cry every time I have to leave the dogs there. I don't know why, and what makes it worse is that the kids cry too. :( Then we leave for AZ on Saturday. I'm still pretty crabby about the dumba$$ bachelor party that Brian is going to, but to keep the family peace, we just have to suck it up and shell out the dough. Nice start of the non-vacation vacation. Things should look up from there. We're going to site see (grand canyon, camelback moutatin, etc etc) and spend some good quality time in the pool. The resort we're staying at has a fitness center; and I'm all about that. That alone could make up for the whole @#%$!@$ bachelor party. So, no blog posts from me for a while. Be prepared for lots of pics when I get back. Yippy!

Thank God it's finally over

The last of Brady's birthday fiesta's happened on Saturday. The bowling birthday bash was utter chaos. The kids seemed to have fun though and I guess that's all that matters. ;)

Wish it was still the weekend

My trip back home and to Mackinac was over with before I knew it. We all had a good time. My little brother cracked everyone up and my older brother surprised us by having a girlfriend (who we got to meet). The kids did really well too despite not getting any good naps in. Fun times (really)!

How Fun

Thanks Jamie!

Question

What would you do if you got an invitation in the mail to attend a bachelor/bachelorette party and the invite said all attendees are being asked to contribute $150 towards the night's events. The night's events include a party bus and a stop at a strip of bars.

Is this normal? I have not been to a wedding or bachelorette party in years!

And so it begins

The start of the 2 week long birthday fiesta!

We celebrated Brady's birthday last night because Brian left for CA today and we won't see him again until next Sunday. Brady loved all of his presents. And Jayda did too up until the part where he got his new hot wheels bike. She kept asking where her new purple princess bike was. And when we told her she'll get a new bike when its her birthday, she starting crying. Which of course made me laugh. I'm so mean. Poor Jayda.

Dentist

I had my 6 month checkup on Monday of this week and while I was there I scheduled appointments for the kids (it will be Jayda's first checkup). They go in this Saturday at 10:30. Fortunately, since Brady has already gone once, he knows its not a bad time. Jayda, on the other hand, has already voiced her displeasure at having to go and even busted out the tears. So, like any desperate mom, I've promised her a happy meal if she's a good girl at the dentist. Can't wait to see how this one pans out...

Debbie Downer

After reading my last post I realized that I sound like Debbie Downer. LOL Just thinking about SNL makes me laugh.

I think our latest sleeping arrangements are what's causing me to be such a crankypants. Not every night is like this, but I would say the majority of them are. I need supernanny! I also need the dog whisperer, but we won't go there right now...

Fun times

The weekend flew by...

• Friday night I went grocery shopping with the kids. Went out to the parking lot with a full cart and 2 cranky kids and discovered I had locked my keys in the van.
• Saturday day Brady and Jayda's friend Natalee came over to play. I miss the warm summer days! It was so much nicer when they destroyed the yard instead of the inside of the house.
• Saturday night we went to the Twins vs Tigers game with Bethany's family. The kids were operating on no naps and were pulling the usual stunts. I got to see maybe a quarter of the game.
• Sunday we went to a baptism party for Mike and Renee's son Brett. Again the kids went sans nap and were glued to my hip/leg the entire 2 1/2 hours we were there.

Fun times!!!!

Actually, the game was pretty fun. It was really good to see Bethany and her family. And the Tigers won - although I would have been just as happy if the Twins won. Cumulatively, I've live in MN just about as long as MI, so my loyalty is on the fence. ;)

Yep

I went home empty handed but in about a week or so, this cuff ring is being shipped to me. It was $40 and believe it or not, one of the cheapest things available. I think I'll like it though.

I did show some backbone when I declined the offer to host my own Silpada show. (Erika and April I know you are offering up a small prayer of thanks for that one.)

Any bets?

I'm going to a jewelry party tonight. Its for Silpada. I have never heard of that before so I said yes I would go before I went and checked out the website. Yikes! You could buy that stuff at Kohls or Target for a quarter of the price. So now I'm stuck going and I don't want to buy anything. Any bets on whether or not I'll be able to walk away empty handed? I'm bringing Jayda with me with hopes that she'll help me get out of there sooner. We'll see...

Procrastination ...

... is the devil. As you can probably tell from my lack of posts lately, I am suffering from it big time. Ever since labor day I just haven't felt like thinking. I've been putting off

• Starting a craphole project at work.
  
• Organizing the kids clothes for fall.


• Organizing my pictures.


• Getting my hair re-colored.


• Blogging.

I have however

• Been making loaf after loaf of Amish Friendship Bread (thanks to my mom for giving me 2 starters). I made my last loaf on Sunday and now I am done with it. Thank goodness for friends who willing took loaves off my hands or I would be tubby tubby 2x4. Those loaves are so good I could eat a whole one all by myself.


• Got all of our carpets cleaned. Then guess what happens?? Zessie pukes all over the place and now we have 3 nice new stains on our nice clean carpet. That so figures.


• Booked Brady's b-day party at the brunswick zone. He is so excited.


• Reserved a hotel room in St. Ignace. My Mom, the kids, and I are going to Mackinac Island for our birthdays. I am way excited about that one.


• Reserved a space at the boarding kennel for our dogs when we go to AZ in October.
  
• Painted my and Jayda's nails last Saturday before we went out with Mike and Renee's fam. She had red with green dots, I had green with red dots. I LOVE being able to do this kind of stuff with her!!

Itsy witsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini

Yesterday at lunch I went over to Old Navy to check out their fall preview sale - I was not disappointed. Great sale - super cute stuff. I couldn't help but wander into the kids section too and I found a bikini for Jayda for next year for only $1.97. Of course, when I got home and was unloading my purchases Jayda spotted it and immediately stripped down and put it on. Its too big, but that didn't stop her from parading around in it. And guess what she wanted to wear to daycare today... Yep. So she has on the bikini top under her shirt.

Probably the funniest thing about all of this is that after I sent these pictures to Brian, he sent me a message back saying: "I have to admit, I'm a bit disturbed now." (Because of the pics of Jayda with the neighbor boy, which isn't my fault; he was over playing with Brady, but as soon as I got the camera out he wanted to be in the pic too.)