Yeah! My mom is here

My mom is in town and we are busy, busy, busy.

The kids could not be more excited. They get to do all sorts of new activities with Grandma. She brought two new DVDs and two new books. She also bought Anthony his Christmas gift...a V-Tech computer. He loves it. He will often tell me that he now needs do his 'puter work. The keyboard is wireless so he carries it around like a brief case, kisses everyone, then goes to work.

The boy also got to help us sand cabinets.

Yesterday was super nice (sunny and about 65) so we went to the park in the afternoon. The highlight was throwing big rocks into the water.

Since it was Grandma's turn to make dinner, we went to Shari's (a local diner) for dinner. The boys had chicken fingers and french fries. Then Grandma got them desert...ice cream with chocolate sauce. Can anyone else see how only a Grandma would pick this while out to dinner :-) Anthony was only a mild mess, but Gabe was a disaster. The funniest part was how careful Gabe was trying to be. he was very intent on using his spoon and actually putting the food in his mouth.

Just for Jennifer

So, I got tagged by Jennifer. This is the sixth pic from my sixth folder in my picture archives. This is the first real photo of Gabe and my mom. She had come to visit in Alaska. It was really nice to have her visit...she always takes such good care of me. BTW, she arrive tonight at 9p. Yeah!

Disappointment

Wow! I thought Rob had Tuesday off. I had plans, not big, but never-the-less important. I was really looking forward to having a little time to myself. And then the bomb dropped...Rob does not have Tuesday off. Bummer. All my plans are for nought. It will all be ok...but I still morn the loss of my 'me' time.

Ready for Rob

The boys...ok mostly me...are ready for Rob to come home. It has been a long week. Gabe is seeing monsters, so I am only getting a little sleep. I am thinking of moving him into Anthony's room to see if that settles him to have his brother there. But this too could go terribly wrong!







On Sat we went to Children's day at a local park. The boys got their faces painted and got to jump in a bounce house. Again, Gabe proved he had no fear. Anthony also got to participate in a martial arts demo. he loved it. They taught him to break a board...he is begging to go back. This is the first activity that he has really shown an interest in so we may need to make the effort.



They have however had their moments. After nap today I really needed to go to the store. Before leaving, Anthony announced that it was halloween and he needed his elephant costume. So, we went to the store in our halloween costumes...why not?!?

Post 101

Yeah!

Here are two more pages that I did. One is the caramel apples we made the other day, the other is pics from our florida vacation.

I love you

Everyone loves to hear their children say "I love you" and know that they really mean what they are saying. I know that it will not be long before they learn the dreaded "I hate you" followed by a slamming door.

Anthony never said "I love you" when he was little. Don't get me wrong, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he loved me. But Rob wasn't there when he was little, so he never heard "I love you" as a conversation. Instead, I love you was what I said to him. In fact, it is only recently that he says it with great regularity. It is almost his security blanket. If he is sad, tired, lonely, he will come find me to say "I love you."

But for Gabe the world is totally different. He hears "I love you" conversations all the time. Now he has begun initiating with his toddler "wuv u." I love that I have this memory of him. He is the first to give me this sweet, toddler speak that only one person really understands.

Most importantly, I love that I have a completely different experience with him. Not just because of his personality, but because the situation is so dramatically different. Not all second kids get that sort of memory. It is usually reserved for the first child. I have worked really hard to make sure he is more than Anthony's little brother...maybe I don't need to work so hard, he will find his own way to be unique.

Look What I Did

Most of the site is a brag about the kids. However, this is my digital scrapbook page that I did. I have always loved the idea of a scrapbook...pretty pictures all neatly embellished. I am not however very gifted at cutting in a straight like or any of that. So, I have now found digital scrapbooking. With the help of some websites and my tutorial books, I can use Photoshop to create lovely pages of my kids activities.

This is the first. Anthony went to the pumpkin patch today with his school. It was his first school field trip. He was so excited to have me come back to see him. I took Gabe to a friend's, so Anthony could have me all to himself. He loved it. He wouldn't feed the lambs, but loved the chickens and the big tom turkey.

A Day at the Farm

We went to Lattin's Cider Mill this afternoon. Of course it was raining, but that should never stop one from a good day. It is Applefest time here and the pumpkins are getting quite big...almost ready for picking. Lattin's offers a wide variety of activities...you can feed the animals, pick a pumpkin, ride a tactor, run through a maze, sling shot apples at cows (not a joke), and eat lots of yummy food.

So we fed the goats. Gabe got his hand bit because he tried to feed the with a closed fist. Anthony wanted no part of those goats.

We watched the cows get hit by apples.

We rode the tractors.

We saw the Chickens.

We saw the bunnies.

We ate yummy food. Here are the kids with chocolate doughnuts...Anthony picked the treat. But I can't complain since he also ate an entire apple after the doughnut.

Where did the week go...

My kids are the coolest and dorkiest kids I know!




We are busy at our house. Fall is in full swing. The leaves are changing and the weather is definitely cool and rainy. But we did get some very nice Indian Summer weather at the beginning of the week. Of course, the kids played outside all day.

Anthony picked me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. My friend Jennifer talked about having dreamed of the day her little girl would wear a tutu for ballet. Well, I have always dreamed about my little boys bringing me wild flowers. And it was as sweet as I imagined it.

My neighbor has a small apple tree and he and the boys picked apples. They worship our neighbors. Their daughters babysit for us. Terri makes me dinner sometimes. And the boys think Brian is just the neatest man around. We are super lucky to have them.

We also went to the park...a few times actually. And played in the back yard. The boys love outside. They now run up and down our little hill with footballs yelling TOUCHDOWN and BOOMER SOONER!

The funniest moment this week was when we put Anthony's raincoat on him for school. Gabe and Anthony have matching raincoats and Gabe thought for sure we were letting Anthony take his raincoat to school. Gabe broke down. The only thing that would calm him was to let him wear his own raincoat over his PJs. He was truly beside himself.

Right now, Rob is steam cleaning my floors. He is such a good husband :-). He leaves for Michigan on Mon, so I will be solo for at least a week.

Plum Worn Out

So, I made plum jelly today. For a recipe with only 3 ingredients, it is really hard. Ok, not hard, but messy and time consuming. I ended up with 9 jars of plum jelly. Hope my friends like plum jelly. So Rob took us all out to dinner :-)

On Thurs, I did art with Gabe and some of our friends. I was talking on the phone to my brother just before everyone arrived and turned around to see Gabe looking like this...

Summer Days Drifting Away...

While I know that many of you are in the throws of summer still, we are definitely into fall. No heat yet, but we are getting close. Last night it dipped to 38. But today was clear and 60. It was a great day to be outside in the afternoon. So, we went to the park with a friend. Sean is only a week younger than Gabe, so the three boys have a lot of fun together.

To catch everyone up, we have been very busy here. On Sat we went to a picnic for my MOMS Club. Of course it rained so we spent the day indoors. The kids played a British game called Pass the Parcel. Basically you pass a present wrapped up many times. Each time the music stops, you take off a layer. The last person gets to keep the present. Anthony didn't understand why he didn't get a prize at the end. Life is rough when you're three.

On Sunday, Rob and the boys watched the last game at Yankee Stadium. I would like to think the Yankees won because my boys just looked too cute to be cheering for a loosing team :-)

For Those About to Rock

Rob and I got floor tickets to go see AC/DC in Nov here in Seattle. I am so excited. We may even go to dinner first!

New blog added

For those in the Dallas Area. Here is a photographer that is great.
http://justoneyearphotography.blogspot.com/

Another fine day

Today was a great day! The sun is out and shining bright. The temp was ideal (80 with a cool breeze). And we took full advantage of it.

The boys all slept a little late then had beverages and cartoons in mom's bed.

After Rob and I spent the day gettng the garage back in order. It wasn't bad, but was definitely heading that way. While we cleaned, the kids had a great time playing out side. They rode their bikes with crash helmuts. They colored with chalk. Gabe likes to try and sniff the flowers. Oh, and they got a ride in the Black Mustang that is loud like Hudson and does grey smoke. And they played with our water table. This amounts to nothing more than filling the table just to take the water out one scoop at a time and dump it into the flower bed.

Then they picnicked in the yard.

Tonight we will eat Homemade Eggplant Parmesean. This is one of my favorite meals. I think because it requires Rob and I to cook together...and that is a rare opportunity these days.

Gabe's Desparations

I got up and went to the gym this morning. When I left all three boys were watching TV in our bed (a very special treat). Apparently while I was gone, Rob did pancakes for the boys and they ate 7 pancakes between the 2 of them...wow!

But the fun really started when I got home. Gabe and Anthony were playing in the guest bedroom which is a big no no. So I made them stop. Gabe started crying and throwing himself on the floor. He could not pull himself together. He came down stairs and cried. He went upstairs and cried. He sat at the front door and cried. But the best, by far, was when he sat at the front door and started crying for our neighbor/babysitter. He was calling, "Emmy, Emmy" for Emily for a good 10min. It was so funny and sad at the same time. You could almost see his thought that if he could just get next door everything would be better.

He eventually settled down when he got to watch Nemo on our bed with Anthony.

Hopefully things will get better after nap.

Rob's Award

So, with rob's deadly accuracy, I made him a marksmanship award.

Caddyshack II

After a lot of work, Rob finally caught a mole tunneling in our yard. So, in true male fashion, he killed it with a shovel. Then he made me take a picture of him with his kill. Men!?!

Now he has ordered traps that will drive little spikes into their heads...oh that should be fun to explain to the boys.

I feel sorry for the moles. I wish they would just go back to the greenbelt behind the house. But they are killing my beautiful, hard earned yard. That lawn is countless hours of work. It is so pretty now. Why can't they just go somewhere else?