Mega-Monday Post (Again)

It's Monday again...and on Friday I told you we had a busy weekend ahead of us and we did. Not crazy busy...just a nice amount of activities to keep it interesting.

On Saturday morning, Easton got his box of costumes back...I never mentioned it on the blog because I got my haircut instead of blogging last Friday BUT last Thursday (a week and a half ago, now) Easton was just awful at Wal-Mart. He likes to sit in the back of the cart and stack things. But when the cart moves, obviously things might fall. Normally he understands this and it's part of the challenge and fun, I guess. But that day he was being such a punk about it and he was getting on my last nerve. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Well, in the process of checking out he decided to pitch a carton of sour cream over the side of the cart where it cracked and spilled on to the floor. I was livid and totally in shock. I was also at a loss for how to really discipline in the midst of checking out and all. So I just held his chin in my hand and got really close to his face for a firm talking to letting him know that his behavior was completely unacceptable and I'd talk to him about it some more once we got to the car. Well, he got a big talking to and he knew he was in trouble. He had to sit in his room for awhile at home and all but later we decided that he needed something more...so we took away something meaninful for a week: his box of costumes.

Anyway, he got them back on Saturady and was excited to put on his too small Spidey costume:




While Dalton tried on all the rest...






After playing for awhile Easton and Jason headed off to swimming lessons and Dalton and I stayed home and cleaned up a bit. J and E ran a few errands while they were out and Dalton started his nap. But after naptime the four of us went to the circus!

We saw Mrs. L (the assistant teacher in E's class) and that was fun. But here's a bad picture of my guys while we wait for the circus to start:


And taking one of myself...


Jason and I have been to 4 Ringling Brothers circuses in the last 5 years. Plus many times before that, of course. But man, this year we all found it to be a real yawner. There was a few exciting parts such as...

"How many motorcycles are they gonna put in that globe?"


And Easton and I liked the elephants the best...




But seriously, it was a boring circus. Maybe we saw the understudies? Because Bello the normal head clown wasn't there and they had a new ring master. Boo.

Intermission couldn't come fast enough...our boys needed some excitement:


Settling in for the second act:


We headed home and Jason fed the boys and got them to bed while I drove down to my mom's neck of the woods to look at a double stroller from someone on Craigslist. Turns out I was a huge moron and didn't ask the right questions before I showed up so it was not what I was wanting. Oh well. You live, you learn.

So that my trip wasn't a total bust I decided to swing by my mom and Lauren's for a bit. Jessica even dropped in via cell phone so it was just me, my sisters, and our mom. Lauren made a trip to McDonald's and I rode along...then later Lauren and I headed back out to Walgreens for some couponing. She was able to score some make-up to practice with (and probably use) and I got some deals as well. I'm sure the young man working the register was so annoyed with me and my two trips through the line as well as when we had to come back inside and get a refund for something of Lauren's that didn't ring up right.

After a few hours with them I headed back home for the night.

Sunday morning I went to that church J went to the last two weeks. It's still a "maybe". This finding a "home run" of a church seems impossible so now it's like we're going to have to just committ to one for a bit and see how it feels over a longer period of time. Or we might keep looking but we're starting to run out of options at this point.

Not too long after I got home from church we took the boys for their studio Halloween pictures. G-ma talked to Easton on the phone and so now she knows what the boys are going to be for Halloween, but the rest of you will have to wait for the "big reveal" when we get the pics back. Bwahahaha!

The boys did quiet time and Jason and I made our buffalo chicken nachos football snack and I settled in with some coupon clipping while we waited for the Broncos to start. The game came on, the boys got up, Easton has been begging to bob for apples so we let him bob for one apple:


Then we all ate the apple and played around in front of the football game. Easton and Jason often play "baseball" with this tiny bat and various balls from the house. Well, Dalton wanted to play too so here he is. Jason is so proud of catching this photo:


After the game Jason had to tinker under the hood of my car for a bit and then all three boys wanted buzzes (hair cuts) so they all three got one and then they all three had a shower. After our nachos J and I weren't hungry for a real dinner so we had smoothies and rummaged around for stuff for the boys' "dinner". Easton got hiccups. He was asking Jason to scare them away. J tried. Didn't work. A little later I totally scared the pants off of him. It was so funny because it really did terrify him. I had to hold and console him for quite a bit:


But it did the trick! The hiccups were long gone. Who knew? :)

At bedtime Easton got a couple of tattoos. As he was picking out which ones he wanted he said, "Dad, let's concentrate" then after he got his two tatts he told Jason he was gonna put one on him. I don't know what Jason said exactly but Easton said, "No, I'm gonna put one on your skin. You're wrong and I'm right 'cause I'm a super cool boy." Indeed. So Jason and Easton each have a tattoo on their foot:


Dalton and I hung out and played while they did their inking:


Then they went to bed.

Today was of course Doughnut Monday. We brought them home to have our picnic breakfast like we like to do on doughnut days but we discovered the DVR wasn't working. Ack! Somehow I fixed it but I'm not sure how. I also found several missing toys and a bowl behind the TV so that was fun. We watched the rest of "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" while we ate. We'd started it yesterday.

After doughnuts Easton played on the computer and Dalton and I started some laundry and then he insisted on watching "Blue's Clues" and did the hand motions so he had to watch it upstairs. That's the only TV Blue records on. He got bored of it and started doing his new trick...

You see, Dalton isn't quite the daredevil that Easton is. He is WAY more cautious and has always been afraid to jump off of something unless he had your hands in his or under his arms or something. Till yesterday, that is. We got him to jump off the bed into Jason's arms quite a few times. And today I even got him to jump off all by himself into a pile of pillows. Yay, Diddles! None of my "action shots" were turning out:


He does like to climb, however. Here he's realizng that he chose a spot that is too high for him:


This one's better!


And he likes to swing down and hang:


When the timer went off signaling the end of Easton's computer time he came up to join us and insisted we all be in a picture:


They got dressed and we went to Wal-Mart where I'm proud to say we only spent $40.72 for our groceries this week. That's without using any coupons, even! And $2.79 at the Mexican mercado. And we're having good stuff too...
- Chicken and beef sausage jambalaya with garlic toast
- Beef tacos with real tortillas from the mercado
- French Farmhouse Garlic Chicken (has about 40 cloves of garlic, YUM!) with mashed potatoes and basalmic green beans (Wally World was out of asparagus)
- meatless lasagna, garlic bread, and a green salad
- Italian Wedding Soup with bread machine bread

Then one night will be leftovers or something simple if there's no leftovers. And the other night we go out. Breakfasts and lunch are always rather simple around here. Today we had fresh tortillas, apple slices, and cheese cut with a pumpkin cookie cutter.

As we were eating Easton pulled a Rorschach and nocticed that his unfolded tortilla looked a little like the Batman sign/signal. So I was like, "That's a great idea!" and I made the one you see him holding here:


Then they went up for quiet time and D's nap. This afternoon Easton is excited to head to Walgreen's and then we'll pick up our free Redbox for them and I'll make both the Italian Wedding Soup (for another night) and tonight's jambalaya. The Saints are on Monday Night Football so we're having a Cajun dish in front of the tube. Fun fun!

Post 6 of 31 for