New Year's Eve

Before we moved in with my parents last year we used to have a poker party on new year's eve. Last year my Mom and I made a great dinner that nobody else enjoyed. Not because it didn't taste good, but because Roy and my Dad were in bed at 8. PM. We were mad.

This year I think Chris (Roy's brother) is going to come over. You see with him you don't know until the last minute. Which makes food planning a little hard in this case. Either way, I am going to make appetizers (as a meal, am I the only one who loves this?) and we will play some Pop Culture or 80's Trivial Pursuit, or my new addiction, Mario Kart on the Wii. And drink. Now you think we are lame. I know. Just wait until Cinco De Mayo, you will change your mind. We are not big on going out tonight. There is too much craziness. So tonight we will be watching the countdown on tv together. And knowing my kids, they will still be up to ring in the new year with us. At least Morgan will be.

Have a safe and fun night tonight.

One Giant Andes Mint

My Mom bought Carter some jammies for Christmas. They are very cute and fit him pretty good. She made sure to get the ones without feet since he pulls his socks off as soon as you get them on, she figured he would sit and pull at the feet of them all the time. I put them on him last night and couldn't help but start laughing right away. Roy came around the corner and said what I was thinking. "He looks like a giant Andes Mint". These are now the mint jammies.

Is It Really Over Already???

I love Christmas (as I have mentioned before). But I am always disappointed on December 26th. Not because I didn't get the right present(s). But because I wait all year for this time of year. Come November I am counting down the days. And then in one day it is over. This year was especially great for me for a few reasons. First, Morgan knew what was going on. And she was excited. Second, this was Carter's first Christmas. Third, my sister (Kaisha) and her family came out from Mass. to be with us and got to meet Carter and David for the first time. We haven't seen them in a year and a half. They got here on Monday and are leaving tomorrow morning. This morning was full of tears and happiness. Her kids (Kyle & Anna) are going to come out in June and stay with us for 3 or 4 weeks.

We had another wonderful Christmas. All week we were busy and having fun. Morgan & I made soap for presents, we went to my parents for Christmas Eve, and we hosted Christmas Day. I made a prime rib and I have to say, I think it is one of the best cooking jobs I have ever done. Here are the pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Soap we made. I got the idea for the snow globes from SAJ.
I decided that my dollar spot cupcake molds would work for soap too. These were a huge hit for gifts. And Morgan was so proud of them. Oh Heck, I was too.

TaTa with Kyle & Carter.

My Mom & Dad bought this bed set for Kyle for Christmas but it had already been purchased by Santa for him. Instead of taking it back, my Mom altered it to fit a crib for Carter. It. Is. Awesome.

Our Christmas Tree after Santa came.

Morgan with her Brobee & Muno (Yo Gabba Gabba) Dolls.

Carter looking at Morgan's stuff.

Grandma & Carter.

Me, Kaisha & Roy.


Roy & (his brother) Chris.

Kaisha & Mark


Grandma, Kyle, Anna & Morgan.

Cousin Ben with Carter and Sam (soon to be Ben's wife) with David.

TaTa with Kyle & Morgan.

(If you look to the left of my ginger bread house you can see my OMSH Christmas post card).

TaTa with Anna & Morgan.

My Mom & Dad.

David. So Beautiful.

TaTa, Kaisha & Carter.

Morgan with her fish tank from Santa.

Morgan's fish tank.

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. And have a Happy New Year.

All I Want For Christmas Is A Clipo, Clipo, Clipo!!

So. Apparently the Clipo is the big ticket toddler item this Christmas. I can't find one. The Target Kaisha called for me said they would get some more in before Christmas. My Mom told me that she heard the VP of ToysRUs say they would have all of the big items in stock until Christmas. Guaranteed. Roy told me he would go to every store he can tomorrow and see if he can find one. That is very out of character for him, so I am pretty impressed with him right now. Wish me luck. Morgan is counting on Santa to bring the Clipo to her next week.

A Christmas Letter From Kelly

This is an email I got from Kelly last year after she put up her Christmas Tree. I think it is hilarious, so I cleaned up the language (which was not as quickly done as one might think for a beautiful Christmas tale) and here it is.
Don't feel too bad for her. She got a new one at the end of the season last year for like 80% off. Thanks to me calling her and telling her to get to Target.

On a beautiful Christmas note, I put up my twice hand me down Christmas tree today.(This is where my sarcasm, and true feelings are revealed) Well, I attempted to raise the sun of a gun, and since the thing is older than I am, it started shedding fake green needles throughout my house, and then the actual branches began to literally fall off. Once the tree was finally up, I got out my favorite lights in the whole world and started putting them on the tree. Imagine my surprise when the last two strings would not light up. There was no twinkling, there was no beautiful soft glow coming from the top of the tree....it was dark. And because I was such a genius when I bought these "perfect" lights, of course I got just exactly enough lights to cover the tree; not even a extra strand for just in case. These are not your everyday, run of the mill twinkle lights; these are "Dew Drop Lights." They are supposed to give your tree a "magical" glow. These are the lights that I hid in a suitcase at Target waiting for the day after Christmas sale so I didn't have to mortgage the house to buy the expensive things. After 30 minutes of replacing the little dew drops one by one, they finally came to life!! It should have gone smoothly from there right???? WRONG!!! Imagine putting a new, gorgeous ornament on a branch, backing up to commend yourself on a perfect positioning of it, and then watching the damn branch break off, and your gorgeous new ornament shatter to pieces. I can describe this moment again for you, and just replace the color of the ornament since this lovely situation happened another 4 times. There was also a very close call with another ornament, but I figured out that when the branch starts to sag, it's probably a good thing to take the ornament off of it, and just rip the branch out!!! I finally started to realize something; this tree is revolting against Christmas, and is begging to be donated to Goodwill. I would take it to Goodwill right now, but since I wasted time to put lights on it and put numerous ornaments on it, I've decided that this will be the Christmas with the chest hair tree. What do you mean you say...well, you know how men get patches of hair on their chests, and there are always patches that have no hair as well, my tree is like that, only branches instead of hair. As you can tell, it was one hell of an experience, and I have decided that next year, I'm not having a Christmas tree. I hope your tree erecting goes smoother than mine did.
Merry Christmas From Kelly!!!

I hope you laugh as hard as I do every time I read this.

Our Weekend

What a crazy week. I am sure glad it is over. Matthew is in pain and still hasn't heard anything from anyone. I am not sure what is going to happen, and I am having a hard time thinking about how screwy the insurance companies are. It seems that they don't realize that behind that payment they get every month, there is a person. A real, breathing person. And that person pays them every month so that when they need help they will get it. Or will they??

The weekend was good for us. We had Roy's Christmas party last night. The guy he is doing work for is so nice. Him and his girlfriend had all of his guys (contractors) and their wives over to their amazingly beautiful house. And had so much food that his GF was sending people home with some. It was fun. Marly watched the kids for us. She brought stuff for her and Morgan to make cards. It was Morgan's first experience with glitter. And Marly doesn't do things small. She brought a huge jar of glitter. Morgan had a blast. I think my house has a new permanent sparkle. Marly swept the floor last night and I swept it about 5 times today before we had Roy's family over. Still sparkling.

And today Roy's family came over for our Christmas with them. I learned something. If you plan on making a Christmas style feast, go to the store at least the day before. I was planning on going yesterday but I cleaned up my house and had two grumpy tired kids so I decided I would get up extra early today and go. When I decided this I forgot the high today was supposed to be 15 (it got up to 18) with snow. So I was waiting to see what was happening with the snow, and I wanted to talk to Roy's aunt to make sure they were coming. I was at the store at about 10. They were coming at 1. But I pulled it off. I bought a spiral sliced ham (fully cooked) and I made sweet potatoes, a potato gratin, green bean casserole and had a veggie tray and chips with dip. I forgot dessert. And heavy paper plates. But everything turned out great and we had a real good time. When they left Roy and I watched The Dark Knight. What a movie. I am still not sure what to say about it. It was great, but I am still speechless.

The weather is supposed to be cold all week. We are going to have a heat wave Thursday or Friday and it should climb up to the 30's. WooHoo. I really wish I didn't have to go Christmas shopping. But I really want to at the same time.

I bought the best Christmas cards today. I was going to make some but can't locate my embossing gun. So I am going to sign and address those tomorrow and get them sent on Tuesday.

HP Magic Giveaway From Stop, Drop & Blog

I have been a reader of the blog Stop, Drop & Blog since before it was Stop, Drop & Blog. I love reading about this particular family because we have children close in age. This family is a fire family. They are FireDad (the fire fighter), FireMom(writer, wahm), BigBrother (just turned 3) and LittleBrother (just turned 1). The Fire Family is one of fifty blogs picked to host the HP Magic Giveaway. This is a prize of $6000.00 worth of HP Goodies.

There are different ways to enter (this blog post is one of my entries). So here is what this would mean to me.

With this gift I could replace my computer that won't even recognize the cd burner or play regular computer games without freezing up.

I could give said computer to my brother who has a dinosaur computer his is still running windows 95 or 98. No. I'm Not Kidding.

I would use this gift for my husband's billing and for writing on my blog.

I would also love to use photosmart and finally do something with the thousands of pictures I have of my kids on my computer, and would also play around with pictures of my niece and nephews.

This would make our holiday so special because as it is we don't have much of a budget for Christmas (as is the case with most people this year), and presents are going to be slim, even only buying for (all of) the kids. My husband is a carpenter, and as everyone knows the winter is not a great time to be a carpenter.

And finally, if you read my post about everything that happened to us this week you know that we are not having a good week. This would really give me something to have fun with myself and with Morgan.

What In The World Is Going On?????

Where do I begin. Yesterday started out so normal and good. I had to go and get the Christmas pictures of the kids. That was my big plan for the day. On my way home I had to pull over for a passing ambulance. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then I ran over some slippers in the road that reminded me of Avon slippers. If I had only known. They were Avon slippers. Matthew was in a horrible car accident. He was hit while going through an intersection which caused his truck to spin into a traffic light pole and flip. He thought that he was okay and didn't go to the hospital. Roy went and picked him up and brought him back here. I took him to work and then the hospital. He was complaining about his shoulder hurting. Long story short he has a broken neck (his c7 vertebrae) and a broken rib. So now not only is he with a broken neck, he can't work, he has no car, and he has a wife and new baby to take care of. I feel so bad for him. Matthew has pulled some crap that worried me before, but this wasn't his fault and is the most worrisome event ever. The broken vertebrae is right next to a main artery and they are worried about swelling cutting off the artery. And to rub salt into a wound, he still had temp tags on the truck. He is so special to me. I always said I raised him, even though we are only 15 months apart in age. I wish there was more I could do for him (them).

And that was only one person affected by the bad mojo going on over here. His friend got a ticket on his way to take his brother to the courthouse to fix a missed court date, and the courthouse friend was arrested at the same time. My SIL's Mom went to the hospital for what turned out to be kidney stones and a kidney infection. My best friends sister went to the hospital for (again) what turned out to be kidney stones. Another family member was arrested this morning for a civil matter (this is a ridiculous arrest). And the courthouse friend's Mom is in the hospital tonight for what might possibly be another heart attack. I am bunkering down until something good happens to anyone I know.

One Tired Baby

The kids and I are sick. We all have colds. Carter seems to have it the worst. He is usually the happiest baby in the world, but the past couple of days he has been kind of grumpy, and even though his grumpy is still pretty happy, it has been rough. So this morning I was getting stuff ready to take to the post office (yay, I sold some stuff) and I put him in his walker with some crackers. He started to get a little whiny and I kept telling him I was almost done and then I would put him down for a nap. Suddenly he quit making any noise at all. I looked at him, and this is what I saw.

Poor Baby. He must have been done. And no Mom, he is not still sleeping in his walker. I only left him there long enough to snap that picture. He is sleeping soundly in his crib.

Holiday Fun Stuff

We have been busy busy over here. I bought one of those pre baked ginger bread houses. So we put that together. And it looks decent (at best). I forgot to ice the front part of the roof so I am going to do that today. And as I already posted, I put the tree up, with help from Morgan of course. And we made ornaments. They aren't painted yet, but they are cut out and baked. We might do some painting today too, since it is snowing and the high is supposed to be 21. Don't worry about the cold though, tomorrow it is supposed to be 57.

But the best thing we did was go and get Christmas pictures taken. I haven't written on here about our previous picture taking adventures. They were (again, at best) horrible. Morgan is so shy that it was just a photographer snapping away and me hoping they got a decent shot worth paying for. I was pretty lucky and he did. But this year was different. David was going to be there, and I got her real excited about picture day. And I thought it would be great fun with Carter, who smiles when you look at him. Morgan did great, as far as sitting and even being moved around for pictures, Carter did great too, as far as sitting on a couch and only trying to dive off a few times. But, of all the pictures she took, I don't have one of either one of them smiling. Not one. Not even smiley face Carter. I couldn't believe it. He looks so serious in all of the shots. I didn't expect a smile from Morgan, heck I didn't even expect participation, but I thought at the very least I could count on a smile from Carter. Then after the picture taking was done, we were standing at the computer deciding which photos to order and he was smiling and talking and laughing. Maybe next year I will get some smiles. Like these. But with cute clothes and brushed hair.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh ....Apple Tree???

Max and Ruby, Ruby & Max. Morgan lives this show. By that I mean she thinks she is Ruby and Carter (or anyone she is talking to) is Max. Everyday there are at least 4 episodes of M&R being played out at my house. It is not uncommon for Morgan to start running around the house with her back pack on yelling "You can't catch me Max" (from the episode where Max is it in a game of freeze tag with Ruby and her friends), or for her to say things like "Orange Dream Boats are too heavenly to describe" "Ready as brownies in the oven" That's a good one Ruby, I'll have to use that" (from the episode where Ruby earns a Bunny Scout Merit Badge by working Candy's candy store) and the other day she walked up to me with hangers on her wrist and told me they were a charm bracelet, and the charms are very special. (if you look at the TV, Max And Ruby is on)

Every once in a while she pretends to be Max, and goes around being a vampire. She also re sites a rhyme while pretending to jump rope, it goes like this

Bunny Scout, Bunny Scout, Dressed in green,

Wave to bunny scout leader curtsy for the queen,

Now count all the way to number thirteen

But the best one is when she pretends she is playing with Ruby's friend Louise but Max keeps interrupting them because he wants an apple. Ruby goes and picks him apple after apple until finally he has a bucket full and he tells Ruby he want apple pie. Morgan acts this one out all the time. She gets her stool and puts it in the middle of the living room, or next to the plants, and stands on it and reach up to pick apples. She actually reaches and twists her wrist to get these apples, then she will walk up to us and say "here Max, a nice juicy apple", it is hilarious. The nice ones of us say thank you and pretend to eat our nice juicy apples, the not so nice ones (meaning Roy) will say "I. Am. Not. Max". So it should have come as no surprise to me that our Christmas tree (yes I already put it up, and I did a bunch of other holiday type activities, I will post those later today or tomorrow) would double as the best apple tree over here in Bunyville.

What A Difference A Year Makes

It's late. I'm tired. And I'm not even hosting this first event. It is officially the holiday season. I made the potatoes earlier this evening, I boiled the eggs. All I have to do tomorrow is finish the deviled eggs, heat the potatoes in the crock pot, make a green bean casserole, bathe 2 kids and myself, get us all dressed, pack a diaper bag (and not forget blankies, since the car seat straps aren't adjusted for winter coats and it is supposed to snow), clean up my huge mess in the kitchen and the rest of the house, since we are going to visit the in laws on Friday (no shopping for me) and I want to put my tree up on Saturday, and get out the door by 2. No biggie right. Right.

This is the normal scene in my house on any holiday. Just wait until Christmas when I have to wrap presents (I know I could do the wrapping before Christmas Eve, but I don't and I don't have any high expectations of that changing this year).

I should go to bed now, but I am too awake for some reason. I have been thinking a lot about where we are this year compared to last year. What a difference a year can make. At this time last year we were thinking more about the fact that in two days we would be living with my parents than that we would be getting together with family to celebrate. You see, Roy is a carpenter (as I may have mentioned) and last October he lost his job because the company he worked for was sold. At the time we thought it was a blessing in disguise. We were wrong. Or maybe we were just a year ahead. Either was, I was 5 months pregnant and we had no income, no insurance, and were soon to be homeless with a then 22 month old. Of course my parents weren't going to let us become homeless. They gave us their basement.

We have had a lot happen in the past year, but I really don't think the end result (meaning our present state of living) would have been possible without my parents. They supported us when we had a rough spot in out marriage and weren't sure if a fourth anniversary was in the cards for us, they helped me when Roy was working almost 200 miles from home and was gone 5 days a week, they tried their best to act like they didn't mind us being in their home for almost a year. Without the support they gave us last year we might not be where we are today (our bills are paid, and if you know me that might be a first in all of my adult life, and we have a pantry full of food).

I am thankful for my children and husband, who love me no matter what.

I am thankful to have a roof (and a pretty nice one at that) over my head.

I am thankful that everyone I love and care about is healthy.

I am thankful for my entire family.

And I am especially thankful for my parents. Not only because of the past year, but for all of their guidance and support. They have truly been great, I am just sorry I didn't know it all along.

I love you all.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Holidays Are Coming, The Holidays Are Coming.

I am having a hard time believing Thanksgiving is this week. It has been unseasonably warm here lately. Everyone has the idea that Colorado is the coldest place in the US, it's not. The average temp has been in the high 60's to low 70's.

But we aren't here to learn about Colorado weather. We are here to talk about the Holidays. I am officially excited about the holidays. I went to BigLots on Saturday (for organization stuff, more about that later) and ended up buying tree ornaments instead.

My family used to buy presents for everyone. And it was so much stress. Some people in my family aren't too easy to shop for. Most of us buy whatever we want or need for ourselves. So last year we decided that we would only buy presents for the kids.

That wasn't to say you couldn't buy presents for everyone, just don't expect anything. It was so nice. I was able to sit back and do nothing. Yeah okay, not really. I had Morgan who was almost two last year and I was pregnant with Carter. I was constantly doing something. But I enjoyed it. I was able to shop without the stress I usually had from not knowing what to buy my Grandma, or having too many ideas of what to buy Matthew. And I am very much looking forward to the same thing this year. All I have to do is make sure Santa can get his hands on a Clipo table and all will be fine. I am not expecting too much trouble with that. And you know, shopping for Carter will be pretty easy.

Plus our social calendar is already full for December. And as you all know. We never have a full social calendar.

And I know that it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, I love that day too. I love hanging out with my family, and we get to see one of my Mom's friends and her family. She has three kids that Morgan loves (well she loves the girls, she tolerates the boy). And this year we have Carter, who is becoming the life of any party, and David is here too, even though he isn't too exciting right now, he is fun to hold and next year will be full of some much needed chaos in this family. So I am waiting anxiously for my leftover turkey turkey sandwich.

And I am trying to decide if I want to go shopping on Friday or not. I will keep you posted with that decision.If anyone reading this (Kelly) wants to meet me for some shopping Friday morning, let me know.

Too Much Chaos

We made it to the park the other day, but I forgot the camera. It was fun. Both of the kids had fun on the swings.

I have been trying to organize my life. I have always wanted to be an organized person, and after today I wish I had actually done something about it. Before, you know, NOW. What happened today you ask. Let me tell you. Roy is buying a truck from a guy he works with. He is giving this guy his truck, a wonderful 1986 Toyota, as part of the payment. So he needs his title to give him. And of course we don't have any specific place to keep such items (in my defence, we did have a place in our old house, I just haven't gotten around to making one here). Roy started looking for it last night, in our room. But couldn't find it. I called my Dad to see if it was left there when we moved out, but it wasn't. So I start tearing boxes apart looking everywhere for it. Long story short, it was on the shelf in Roy's closet. The first place he looked. If I had somewhere to keep everything like that, I could avoid the whole mess. So today I am going to Target and BigLots to get stuff and get organized. I will take before and after pictures. Wish me luck!!

Oh Boy....

So. Today we went to Joann's (yes again) and had a great time. That of course is sarcastic. Maybe it is because I wrote about how well behaved Morgan is in public, or because she is almost three, and I knew the terrible two's were too easy. Either way, it was the trip from hell.

It started out okay. I only needed a few things. Morgan immediately saw the Christmas decorations and went and grabbed a snowman she saw last week. I told her we weren't getting it but I let her carry it for a little while. I put it back and she went and grabbed it again. I asked her to put it back, on her way to put it back she dropped it and the hat broke. So I bought that.

I know. I could have put it back and not said anything but there are two reasons I didn't, 1. I am usually the poor shopper that ends up with the broken junk & 2. This happened right in front of the register and Morgan isn't the kind of kid that breaks something and quietly puts it back, she is the kind of kid who apologizes for breaking stuff or cries about it. Plus I can put a little glue on it and have a cute new Christmas decoration.

After that I decided it was time to go. While we were waiting in line and Morgan wanted a sucker. I said no (not because I am mean, but because we have a bunch of candy at home). Then I heard the very recognizable sound of a candy wrapper opening. I looked over and she had the sucker in her mouth. I snatched it from her and paid for that too. Of course this made for a very loud checkout.

I still stand by what I wrote about how good she is. Today was just one incident. But I can't help but wonder. How many are to come. And how will I handle them?

Coming Tomorrow - Playground adventures. Hopefully with pictures.

A Good Weekend

We had such a nice weekend. On Saturday Matt & Krystal brought David (Daycare, as Morgan calls him) over to see us. My parents came over too, it was like a 3 in 1 visit, they got to see all of their (Colorado) grand kids. We had fun just hanging out. David has gained 1 pound in his 3 1/2 weeks.

On Sunday Morgan & I went to the Christmas Crafts & Food show at the convention center. We met Kelly and Hillori (Kelly's sister) down there. What a mad house. 9 aisles crammed full with people. We thought that maybe it wouldn't be so busy with the Broncos game on, we were wrong. But we had a lot of fun. There was some pretty neat stuff to see. A lot of good food too. Morgan tried some new things. She was so well behaved. She walked the whole time, and didn't complain about it once. In fact the only times she cried were when she had to quit looking at the trains, and when she lost her jellyfish toy, we found him and all was better. Then we saw Santa. And I mean just that, we saw him from a distance, not because there was a long line, but because Morgan didn't want to get near him. She liked looking at him, but that was it. Maybe next year I will get a Santa picture.
When it was time to leave, Morgan got upset but then said, "Can I go home and watch shows and Cars?" so she was okay.

I came home planning on making pj pants for the kids, but that didn't happen. I instead played on the computer and watched the race. So today I am going to make checkbook covers for the craft show my Mom is doing this weekend, and then I will work on the pants. I am excited about the pants. I found the cutest fabrics for them. Come back later for pictures.

The Big Sister

When I found out I was pregnant with Carter I did what every woman (that I have talked to about this sort of thing) who finds out she is pregnant while she is raising a one year old does. I sat on the toilet and cried. It was a mixture of happy and OMG tears. I thought about the fact we didn't have health insurance, that I hadn't gotten my pre Morgan body back, the exhaustion that comes with a newborn, the gestational diabetes, the morning sickness and the daughter I love so much and how could I possibly love another child like that. And would she be a jealous sister, this one I thought would be a definite yes. After thinking about all of this for about 10 minutes (while crying) I stood up and brushed my hair, washed my face and put on a smile. I had to call Roy. He was so excited. This baby was his idea.
I will admit that it took me a while longer than I think it should have to get excited. I didn't really get excited until I found out I was having a boy. Yes. Around my 20th week. The reason I didn't get excited was because I was too busy feeling guilty. About Morgan's feelings.
And then Carter was born. Roy brought Morgan to the hospital and everything was good. There wasn't any jealousy to speak of. Until Carter started becoming mobile. In the time that we have lived here I have walked in on some happenings that would make any parent wonder how their baby is still laying on the floor laughing and not screaming his head off. She has (to name a few) tipped his walker over (yes, he was in it), lifted (more like threw) him on to the stairs and watched him fall (luckily she could only get him to the second step), and rolled him on to his back so she could jump off of him. During each one of these Carter has laughed the whole time. Not just a giggle either. A deep belly laugh.
So the other day I knew something pretty bad happened when I heard him crying. Carter pulls himself up on the TV stand all the time. We move him away and he goes back and we move him away. This goes on for a while. I heard Morgan yell "No Carter", a thump, and a scream. A loud crying scream. I went out to the living room and asked what happened. Morgan told me "I told him no, because he was getting the TV, and I will get mad, and then I hit his head" I said "You hit his head?" She said "Yes. Because I was gonna be mad". I looked at his face and he had a big red mark from his face hitting the TV stand. She was put in time out.
Earlier in the day Carter learned to spit, and his face was covered in spit. Morgan freaked out yelling at me to wash his face so he didn't get a rash.
I love that she is so concerned with him getting a rash, but he had better not get near the TV or she will get mad.

I'm Here

I have been sick. For over two weeks now. I am finally feeling better, but I cannot get rid of this cough.
I am such an exciting person that in the week and a half since I posted last, not a lot has happened. The most exciting thing that happened was we celebrated our 4th anniversary. We went out to dinner at Benihanas. It was my first time going there and it was delicious.
Also we had the craft show on the 1st. I took Morgan with me and she was tired from Halloween so we didn't stay too long , but it was still fun. I sold a few things. My Mom sold the most dollar wise. My Mom has a booth at another one so I might try to get her to sell some of my stuff at that one too.
I am having a Homemade Gourmet party this weekend, I am looking forward to that. I love having get together's at my house. I usually do the summer parties and my Mom does the big winter ones, but I try to slip a few smaller winter ones in since I love this time of year. I could do without the snow, but the holiday time makes me happy.
Well I honestly don't have anything else to babble about. Maybe something exciting will happen today.

Happy Halloween!!!

What a busy day. We woke up early (not my choice) and watched the news. They were showing Halloween pictures that viewers sent in and said they would keep showing them until Monday so to be sure to send them in. I decided to send in the super cute one of Carter (see the Boo At The Zoo post). And guess what, they showed it. I was so excited. I called my Dad, but he had just changed the channel and missed it. Nobody I know saw it except Morgan. She said "Look, Carter's on the tv!!. It truly was my shining moment.

Then we carved our pumpkin, Roy carved his last night while we were at the hospital. Mine looks like the goofy sidekick to Roy's.

Then we went to my Mom's house to hang out and to pick up these super cute trick-or-treat bags. Morgan wouldn't let me take a picture of hers until it was full.

We came home planning to go to a party the had started at 5 but it was almost 6 so I made a quick pizza and got the kids ready to go.

First I had to get our candy ready for trick-or-treaters, the ones I expected to come after we got back. This is what my candy pile looked like before. I have everything in there, including vampire fangs that glow in the dark and temporary tattoos.

And this is what it looks like now. No. I did not make a mistake and add the same photo. It is the same picture. We did not get one single trick-or-treater. I thought we would be home early enough to still be able to give out candy. I was wrong. Now I know and will probably not buy candy next year. If you feel like you didn't get enough email me your address. I will send you some of this.

Morgan had so much fun. She is so shy with stranger's (and some people she knows) that I couldn't get her to say trick-or-treat. She said thank you a couple of times, but she had no problem saying "let's go get more candy" as soon as we turned to walk to the next house. When we finally finished Morgan's bag was about half full. One of our neighbors was handing out brown paper bags that she had decorated. Morgan tore that open as soon as we walked in the house. It had an apple and some candy in it. My sweet candy lovin' 2 year old asked if she could have her apple.

Now my kids are tucked soundly into bed and I have to get up super early to get ready for the craft fair. Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

David Matthew

Welcome Sweet Baby Boy!!

My newest nephew was born at 12:53 am today (Oct. 30). He weighed in at 6lbs. 9oz. and is 21 inches long. He has some hair that is pretty dark. He looks like his Mommy more than his Daddy. That is definitely her yawn ; ) He was born by C Section. Everyone is doing great.He is so darn cute, he seemed so small. I couldn't believe Carter was born only 7 months ago. Morgan was happy to meet her new cousin, as expected she said "awww, a cute daby".

Congratulations Matthew & Krystal!! I love you guys.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting.......

Krystal went in to the hospital at midnight to be induced. She was already at a two when she went to her appointment yesterday, but that doesn't mean anything as far as how fast it will happen.
Hopefully we will be able to go see Baby Scooter (they haven't picked a name yet so that is the baby's nickname) tonight. I am so excited for them. I know that Krystal will be fine and is strong enough for this delivery, and she has a great partner to help her today (actually two, since my Mom is there). They will be great loving parents. There is already a lot of love in this family for this baby. He is one lucky little guy. I will post again after I get to go meet my new nephew.

BOO!! At The Zoo

What a fun day. The weather was perfect, the animals were out & the kids were absolutely the best behaved children I have ever been around, and if you know me you know I am serious when I say that. Morgan walked the whole day, except for when she was starving and Roy carried her for a short while, and Carter was as happy as ever in his stroller. The zoo was pretty busy, but I didn't think it was any worse than any other warm Saturday at the zoo, and yes, we had to wait in lines for candy, but most of the lines were only 3 or 4 kids long. So it is confirmed, Kelly is a wuss.

I know, you want to know what happened with poor Mr. No-Costume Carter. I found a costume, and I have debated putting pictures up until Friday, but the pictures are so funny, I feel I should at least put one up. He was a Lion (or a solid gold dancer as Roy said), and as you can see, a very ferocious one at that. Morgan looked beautiful, and she loves her costume, but she does need a headband. I am going to work on that before Friday. But you know that cold I thought Morgan was getting, I got it instead. so I haven't really felt up to anything the past couple of days.

Wood Fairy Princess Halloween Costume & A Monkey Gone Wrong

I had (am still having) a heck of a time finding costumes for the kids. I went to 3 stores and found that they either had two or three costumes to choose from or the girls costumes were, how should I put it, too adult. My BF Kelly told me she had just seen a Sock Monkey costume at her Super Target, which is great, except she lives a ways away from me and I didn't really feel like loading the kids up and driving for a half an hour on the hope they would still have one for Carter. But then I had the best idea ever. Matt lives by Kelly. He could go look for me. He reluctantly agreed. But when he got there, a baby sock monkey was not to be for my Halloween this year. There was however, a monkey with a banana sewn to it's hand. I said get it. It was all planned out, Matt would get the costume, take it to work with him, give it to my Dad, my Dad would bring it to me, I would give my Dad the $, he would give the $ to Matt. PERFECT!! All I had to do now was figure out what Morgan would be. My Mom said she had complete faith that I could make a wood fairy princess tutu for Morgan to wear and could get a shirt and tights and shoes for her and she would be the cutest thing in the world ( I may have added that last part, but I am sure my Mom meant to say that ; ), so off I went to get all of the items for the wfp costume. I got it all and got home excited for my new mission. In the middle of tying the strips of Thule to the elastic my Dad got here with the monkey. It was all working out perfectly, just as planned. Except the monkey was too short. It DOESN'T fit.

I managed to get the wfp finished and am very happy with it, and Matt said he would go to the other Target tomorrow and call me. I guess Carter won't be dressed up for boo at the zoo tomorrow, which Kelly says I am crazy for going to anyway. She is just a wuss.

So here are the pictures of the cutest unusable (in my house anyway) monkey costume in the world (that isn't a sock monkey) and the greatest wood fairy princess costume (without the actual princess in it, I didn't finish the thing until after midnight, I will post pictures tomorrow of her in it). See how cute it is with the banana.

Coming tomorrow, a Boo At The Zoo post, where I confirm Kelly's wussiness!!