A Post in the Nick of Time

So yesterday we had big plans to go to Elitch's for the last time of the season. It was supposed to be 70-something degrees and we wanted to surprise the kids with something fun. We drove down, Easton saw it from the highway and got excited. Then we pull into the lot. It's empty. I go, "Uh oh!" Clark Jason goes, "First ones here!!!" The girl at the parking booth goes, "Guys we sooooooo don't open until noon" (it was just after 10, when they used to open).

No punching. No running to Chariots of Fire. But when Easton watched that "Vacation" clip with us he said, "Is that us?" I said, "Does that look like us? Does that look like YOU?" Dork.

Sorry to disappoint with that Griswold's comparison. I should've added "minus the violence" to the "minus the F bombs" disclaimer for Kyla.

Anyway, we checked it to Children's Museum instead. Which was still loads of fun, we don't get to go there often as a family. When we go as a foursome we can each focus on a kid a little better, ya know? So, Jason could stay to play basketball with Dalton:


While I took Easton over to the train tables (he'd made a couple of baskets and I guess he was bored of hoops?):


We all met up again for more trains, before moving on to dress up:




My flash didn't go off:


Dalton took his costume off and headed over to the magnet wall, so Eastie asked J to be kings with him. J fit! Here they are smiling for the camera:


And here they are posing seriously for their oil painting:


Then we moved on to painting...Two kids. Two hands. One is keeping D from falling off. One is painting E's hand for him. Multitasking.


But E needed to be able to do this:


D just made this:


We did a few more things before coming home for grilled cheese sandwiches and apple slices for lunch. Jason watched LSU (lose), the boys did naps/QT, I went Christmas shopping.

We all met back up again and eventually went out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes. Jason and Easton camped in E's room again last night.

Jason lasted two hours.

Easton just snores too loud.

It broke my heart thinking that Easton would wake up, think he and his Dad would both be there having all kind of camping fun together and they didn't. :( Instead Easton slept till shortly after 8:00 and woke up whimpering, not because his Dad wasn't there, but because he thought his Dad's discarded blankets looked like a dinosaur! Poor little snoring boy. Remind me to ask about it at his 4 year well-child. I'm not sure a boy so small should snore like he does. He is maybe a little sick still, I guess. But on family trips when we're all in one room it's been rough.

Once E finally did wake this morning, Jason tried to run off to a new church. Only, he got there and he was late. Normally he wouldn't care but this was apparently a really small church and arriving late would likely make a big scene. So, instead he went to rent a carpet cleaner and we did that today instead. But while he was gone the boys and I did breakfast and jammed to Crocodile Rock. I had them laughing so hard at my singing and dancing:




We hung out for a bit just playing with the Saints on from London. Easton got Thomas "all ready for Halloween":


Then it was time for homemade pizza rolls for lunch followed by more naps and QT for the boys, football for J, and I sat next to him and made an 8 WEEK MEAL PLAN. My goal was 6 weeks but we just have too many favorites apparently. This is 6 nights a week! I'm so excited to have that done. I'd been wanting to do it for awhile.

After football was over and Dalton was awake, Jason set to work on the carpets:


The boys and I eventually tired of watching Halloween Noggin shows and so we left for a few drugstores. Came back to find Jason steam cleaning the couch throw pillows so we took off again, this time for McD's to play and eat french fries. Eventually J called and was all done so we picked him up to go look for some Halloween accessories and came home to put some stuff other than french fries in the boys' bellies before bedtime:






Ack...somehow I still have some leftover pictures. Oh yeah... these are from Friday. Dalton had a much better day than how it started out over his muffins. But he's still a complete rascal. While the boys were upstairs playing, Easton shouted down to tell me, "Moooooom, Dalton took off his pants!"


Then I heard shouts of "Hep! Hep!" and a helpful 3 year old telling me, "Dalton's in the sink!"


I have a few Friday stories as well. We were rushing to get to gymnastics, they must start the class early. Anyway, Easton wears warm up pants over his "costume" and he pulled his warm ups down, bringing his yellow shorts with them. As he struggled to right himself he fell over! So he's laying there in his stripey underwear with pants and shorts around his ankles and all the other parents looking on. Good thing he didn't care much.

Dalton brought Dupa. A little girl asked the baby's name and I told her. Another mom asked, "The baby's name is Dupa? That's what we say for bottom. It's Polish for bottom." Great. Dalton named his baby 'Butt'. I didn't even know he spoke Polish. :) Actually Dalton says it more like "Duhpa". Easton is the one who translated it as Dupa.

At the grocery store on Friday afternoon I let the boys split a free cookie. As we were walking Easton said, "This cookie is salty!" Noticing that both boys were gobbling theirs up I said, "I bet it's not. I bet it's sweet." He said, "Trust me. It's salty."

When I told J the story he was like, "So, did you taste it to see?" and I was like, "No, he doesn't know 'salty'". Jason was all, "Yes he does!" and got a small handful of each sugar and salt. Gave Easton the taste test. He called 'em both salty. So there. A mama knows these things. I'm sure the cookie was fine.

Oh real quick...there are two more pics...these must be from Saturday morning while I made breakfast. This is Blitz in his Halloween costume:


And this is to give AJ some festive Halloween fright:


Okay, the pics are gone so that oughta do it. Have a good week everyone!

Post 26 of 31 for

The S's a.k.a. The Griswold's

I'll explain more later...but this was us today...minus the F-bombs (don't watch if you don't want to hear...they're towards the end).

The "violence" is at 2:33, the language at 2:46.

My 900th Post

It is really insane how much I blog. Isn't it? Actually I adore having this [extremely detailed] record of our lives. I only wish I was blogging from all the way back at the beginning with Easton. Man, having a preemie in the NICU for a month...blogging would've been a great way to keep everyone up to date, sort out my feelings, wouldn't it have?...oh well. Instead we had a Yahoo album with informative captions but even that is long gone now. Long live the blog!

And even though this is post #900, I have nothing exciting. I don't even have any pictures of the boys today. I have some video, maybe I'll share that at the end. One is of Easton and it's really long so I probably won't upload it and the others are of Dalton having a tantrum this morning. Over muffins. It was not pretty.

Diddles finally slept last night...7:45 p.m. till 7:30 this a.m. But we were nervous that he wouldn't. He was coughing and crying out a lot while we were up watching our shows. But I never heard him at all once I went to sleep. Thank goodness. He was needing to get caught up. Especially now that he's a little ill.

But before I was really sure he was sick yesterday we ran a few errands. Dalton was in his jammies after getting macaroni and milk all over his clothes. Easton was in his monkey costume and we went to the library, the dollar store, the regular grocery store (for "cow cheese" and tofu that Wal-Mart doesn't carry), and then Walgreens.

And my Walgreens haul? That, I do have a picture of, sadly. No pictures of the kids, but I take pictures of my purchases.

What I paid: $1.56 (off my gift card)

What I got:

The Pert Plus (which I do not use) was more than free...I got "overage" which helped to pay for the remaining balance after coupons on those Benefibers. And then I got an $8 "Register Reward" to use on my next purchase of whatever (some other great deal, I'm sure).

So, someone out there is sure to use my Pert Plus. Either someone I know (anyone???) or there are plenty of shelters and such around here to donate it to. But how could I not get it when I was getting PAID to take it out of their store? I mean, seriously. And those Benefiber drink mixes are delish. I'm just bummed about the aspartame in them, ya know?

Anyway, the math works out that I got paid $6.44 to take $36 worth of stuff off their hands. Unreal. It's all legit, I'm not doing anything sketchy. Nothing "beeps" at me or requires a manager to come. Walgreens is just a super cool place that does their own coupons and accepts them with manufacturer coupons to make for some really awesome deals.

Okay, so it's the weekend and I think the weather is supposed to be nicer. Other than some football watching I'm not sure exactly what is in store for us. I just hope it's not more of this...

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He crumbled and threw WAY more than you see in the video.

Anyway, that's all she wrote, folks. Ta ta for now!
Post 24 of 31 for

20 Months Today

To celebrate, Dalton woke up at 5:00 a.m. We tried and tried but could not ever fully get him back to sleep. Yesterday it was the same thing, just started at 5:30. He's just all screwed up from his no nap day on Monday. It's a real mess. I hope I can get him sorted out soon. He fell asleep in the car on the way to AussieROO. It was 9 a.m.! And he was a punk while we were there. The teacher could tell he was tired just from me carrying him in versus him running to the door. And later it was clear from his several mini tantrums that he's just not in his best mood today.

But first back to yesterday. We all actually took naps! Can you believe it!?!? Thanks to Dalton's 5:30 waking I was particularly tired, and somehow Easton napped too. So I sure did! Lovely. Then Easton wanted to go to the park. It was about 33 degrees with a brisk wind. However, he reminded me that we have coats and hats so we put those on and headed out:












We didn't stay long at all. It was too chilly.

We went out to dinner last night as a fundraiser for Easton's school. It was at Black Eyed Pea which is certainly well-known amongst the senior crowd but we like to go there every once in awhile when I'm in the mood for the same stuff I get at Cracker Barrell for more money and worse service. But 15% went to the school. That's the only kind of fundraiser I'm really willing to do for a school I have to pay for anyway. We're on our second or third beg-your-coworkers-and-family-to-buy-crap fundraiser as well. I haven't done a thing for any of them and don't plan to. Aren't I bad? Actually I do feel a little bad because Easton's tuition is relatively cheap. But it's going to go up next year, especially because he'll be going an extra day a week.

So, this morning was school for Eastie Boy. He was a little pouty after I'd dropped him off. I think that's just the way it's going to continue to be, unfortunately. I guess I'm just such a fun mom that he'd rather stay with me and his brother than get to go be independent playing at school with a bunch of kids his own age. I take it as a compliment now...mostly.

After watching E interact with Mrs. M a few minutes Grumpy D and I headed over to our traditional Thursday morning breakfast at ABC where he was perfectly lovely. Especially compared with last week when he was so awful we had to eat in the car. After breakfast we headed over to AussieROO and, as I mentioned, he fell asleep.

Once class was over we went to Target where I did a little more convenient Christmas shopping for the boys. It's nice being able to get a head start on things like this. It's hard too, because I don't know what all to get them. Especially Dalton.

After Target we went to pick up Easton and came home for some macaroni and cheese:


I'd love to get in a nap again today but I'm not thinking it'll happen. Maybe while Easton watches a movie next to me or something but I'm not sure if I'm quite wiped enough to sleep with a TV on. It's possible. I'll let you know tomorrow. :)

Post 23 of 31 for

Just Wednesday

Hiya, peeps! Happy Humpday.

I don't have a ton to say...we haven't been up to all that much. Easton is a little sick. He was coughing and slightly stuffy before school yesterday (he wasn't ONLY trying to get out of school) and we just took it easy around the house in the afternoon except for a short trip to Barnes and Noble for my free Starbucks latte and trying to play at the extremely crowded train table.

We weren't there long. We preferred going back home to wait to play with Daddy who is way more fun than a train table:


I love Dalton's expression in this one:




Jason introduced Easton to a game he used to play with his dad...push your foreheads as hard as you can against the other:


Dalton wants in!


And Eastie made me this special "pyramid":


Easton slept well last night, I gave him some cold medicine since he'd asked. Dalton was up early though, we think he might be starting to feel a little crummy too. He crashed on the way to the mall:


He's still been cranky today. I hope he's back to his old self in no time:


I need to go help him fall asleep for his nap now. He's being a rascal up there. No clue what Mr. E is up to. It's very quiet from his room. Gotta go!

Post 22 of 31 for

Catch Up

Okay, hopefully I can get a "real" blog post done today. I don't see why not. Dalton is already sound asleep. Thank goodness! Easton is acting like he's going to nap because he says he's sick...we'll see. I kinda doubt he'll sleep.

So, back to the weekend. I don't even remember where to start other than with the pipe snake story. So, anyway, on Thursday I noticed a little water under the kitchen sink. I told J...he fixed it...we tested out the fix by shoving a bunch of food in the garbage disposable and seeing if the water got high enough if it would leak. It didn't. Problem solved.

Only we created a new problem.

On Friday Jason went to a farewell happy hour with some people from work. The boys and I were on our own and after dinner I was doing the day's dishes when water started cascading out from under the sink onto my feet and the floor. Seriously gushing! Ack! Jason was on his way home, I told him to drive faster as I tried to soak up the puddles of water spreading across the kitchen and keep the kids out of it.

Basically J determined that shoving all that food in the disposal clogged up a pipe (ya think?) But it was this strange mystery pipe that he can't quite figure out why it's there. Anyhoo, bright and early Saturday morning Jason ran to Home Depot for the auger and took care of the stinky mess. I kept the boys out of the way with bagels and Halloween puppets:


Jason finished up the sink project, decided to go clean out our bathroom tub pipe that gives us troubles a few times a year, and while he was all covered in stinky stuff he decided to go ahead and give the lawn it's last mow of the year. After all of that I went down to the Home Decorating and Remodeling Show with my mom.

As I mentioned, I rode the train into downtown. The funny thing was, my mom was already on the train that picked me up! So we were able to ride the rest of the way together. She treated me to a soft pretzel and lemonade as we wandered through and I hummed the "If I had a million dollars" song in my head.

Saturday evening was that birthday party and Jason and Dalton stayed here and played and bonded and all that. Easton went to bed as soon as we got home and told Daddy about the party.

Sunday morning found J going to try out a church...another "no". We'd each been there before and while I didn't think it was a keeper, I also liked it more than the last church we were seriously considering. The search continues.

But, while J was at church, the boys and I did puppet shows with the Halloween stick things we made the day before:


We didn't have football to watch during the day, but I can't really remember what we did. Sunday night was my Mom's Night Out. I left the boys playing in the backyard:



Jason had asked Easton if he wanted to bring any toys outside like a ball or something. E said, "No, when I'm a boy I bring a ball but not when I'm a Superhero." Which, you may notice, he's in his Batman jammies.

Meanwhile I drove down south to meet up with the other moms for Mexican food. "Senioritas and Margaritas" the eVite said. :) And how.

When I arrived, Max's mom, Ellis's mom, and Wee Laddie's mom were already there. Ellis's mom and I both live on the north end of town so the other moms were surprised we didn't carpool. I said, "I was afraid you guys might get all political and I'd need a getaway car." And apparently they were already talking politics and politely stopped, just because of me...the non-political person with different beliefs than all the rest of them. Wasn't that nice of them? I felt bad for being the party pooper but they were nice about it.

Meanwhile, Jason and the boys made some dinner and had a fun bath:



They went to bed without issue and I came home a little later.

Monday was doughnuts and Wal-Mart in the morning. We had an issue with milk where there was a small hole in the bottom of the container. I didn't really notice it until we got home and I opened it. Then it became like a can of pineapple juice or a sippy cup where you need a hole to pour/sip from and a hole to vent. So as soon as it was open milk was spouting everywhere. I was in desperate need of milk for Dalton so we had to go right back to Wal-Mart to exchange it.

That meant we were a little late getting our lunch and I didn't have Dalton asleep by the time Lauren arrived to watch them while I went to the dentist. I tried to get D down but it wasn't working and I told Lauren she could get him up if he wasn't settling down and going to sleep.

So, that's what she had to do. And Dalton didn't end up getting a nap. But unlike the other day, this time it's really affecting him. At dinner he was just so cranky and pathetic. His little eyes kept closing while he'd sip his milk. He kept rubbing his eyes. As soon as we finished dinner I stuck him in the bath and got him ready for bed. He was out by 6:45. Slept till 7:30 this morning but has been a pill most of the day. Still sleep deprived. I'm hoping today's nap helps his mood a little. Poor guy.

And I was right...Easton's not napping but he's laying so quietly in his bed. I'm gonna go move him over to my room with some juice. Oh...school went so-so today. Easton was saying he was sick and wanted to stay home. I didn't let him and he did a small cry a few minutes after I dropped him off (I was still in the hall). But Mrs. M said he did great the rest of the day.

Okay...gonna go now. Bye!

Post 21 of 31 for