Going Commando

Every man will appreciate this post. There's nothing like going commando for Halloween. :-)



Happy Halloween!!!

A Moment With Beeb . . .

Here's a recap of a conversation I had with Beeb last night while getting her ready for bed.

Beeb: "Mommy on my next birthday I will be five. Can I get bathtized?"

Mom: "You have be at least eight to be baptized."

Beeb: "I want to get bathtized so I can live with Heavenly Father again."

Mom: "That would make Him very happy."

Beeb: "When I get bathtized Heavenly Father will be happy and if I don't get bathtized He will be sad."

Mom: "That's right."

Beeb: "So that's why I am going to get bathtized."

What Happens When I Get Dressed

The other day I was telling some friends about how my kiddo's decided to make themselves "mummy's" while I was getting dressed for the day. They used three rolls of toilet paper in the process. I received a little lecture when it was revealed that I didn't take any pictures. For me these events are daily, if not several times a day, so I didn't think to capture the moment forever for you all to enjoy as well. I've learned my lesson (bad bad girl) and so here is what happened this morning while I was getting dressed:







Do I care about this mess today? Not really. Why? Because my new kitchen floors are finally in and they look fabulous! :-)

An Unexpected Sadness

I had an unexpected bout of sadness last night as I drove home from a friends house and realized there would be a good chance that our 19 year old Mazda B2600 truck would not be in the driveway when I arrived.



Now that AH has purchased a new truck and with some of the issues that the old truck is having (needs a new catalytic converter, rotors, brakes, and it just started leaking oil) it was decided that we should sell little blue. I was somewhat surprised since I thought we'd always keep it as a work truck, but we aren't interested in sinking anymore $$$ into it only to have it sit most of the year.

Onto Craig's list it went and AH received his first response no more than two minutes later. Of course even with its issues it was a screaming deal. We had the engine rebuilt when we took ownership of it and it has low low miles on that new engine (plus its been well maintained since). Needless to say it sold to the first person who responded.

What surprised me was how sad it made me to know it was gone for good. Don't misunderstand me, I hated driving that little truck and would put up a fight anytime it was "suggested" that I drive it to do my errands. There was no head rest (so your head goes through the back window if ever in an accident), the driver seat sagged and of course it had no amenities (AC, cruise, etc). But it was the only vehicle we've owned for our entire marriage and it used to belong to AH's Grandpa C and it was a hard working little truck.

So cheers to you little Mazda - you were a darn good truck for us.

9 for 9

In 9 years of marriage we have now officially owned 9 vehicles. After years of driving Grandpa C's old Mazda pickup (while drooling over owning a new truck) AH came home today with this beauty (only in light grey and with the chrome package):



Obviously we have a thing about cars. . .

Kitchen Progress Update

Well it's been a while since I've written about the status of our kitchen remodel. After AH finished installing new lighting we had the drywall crew come in and put up new sheet rock on the kitchen ceiling as well as having them smooth out the sweet 70's textured walls of our stairwell and upstairs hallway. It looks so much nicer now!

The AH and our good friend and neighbor Don, who built my office desk and bookcase (all build-ins), got all the lower cabinets installed and part of the upper cabinets in with the rest to be completed over the next week or two.

The kiddo's building their beds in the cabinets tonight after dinner.


The new counters and under mount sink went in this past Monday and look beautiful! Some day, hopefully soon, my floors will be put in (for the second time) and then the plumber can do his job.

Our original floors were falling apart as they were installed and after a three day struggle we gave up and returned them (with some hassle but AH put his foot down and got a full refund). I selected a new floor and now have to wait for the installers to become available again (a long long delay to which I am not patient).

I have the appliance installers coming next week, the plumber on call for next Thursday (should my floors actually get installed before then), two guy's coming out to give bids on the wainscoting, the new front door should be in any day (though it may not get installed until next month) and I'll order the tile for the back splash next week as well.

Tonight AH said, "I am tired of hand washing dishes." I was delighted to tell him that his dish-pan-hands will get a much deserved break next week when the dishwasher is reinstalled (if everything stays on track).

I think I can finally see a light off in the distance of this long tunnel we call a full kitchen remodel. Woo hoo!

No Time For Flash Cards

This is one of the best parent/child activity blogs I've ever discovered so I thought I'd better share:

NO TIME FOR FLASH CARDS

I love her songs!

Melodies About Me

This morning I dragged my kiddo's on a bunch of errands, one of which was the craft fair at Vasa Park Lodge. I didn't see much that jumped out at me until I got to the back of the building.



Sitting beneath a banner with her laptop and printer was a nice lady playing music on her computer speakers. Mr. B immediately started dancing to the cute tune so I asked the lady about her product. It is a CD of music written by her and some other family members that incorporates your child's (she can do multiple names per CD instead of just one name) name into each song. She asked Mr. B if he liked pirates and then played Pirate Adventure with his name in the lyrics. Then she did the same for Beeb. These little tunes are very catchy, a good quality recording and I actually liked them so we left with an individual CD for each kiddo and jammed all the way home. (my favorite is Purple Sock Blues)

It was fun to see their faces light up when they heard their name in the songs and especially with some of the silly lyrics. They giggled and danced in their booster seats until we got back to the house.

You can visit the company website Melodies About Me to hear samples and/or order your own CD. Great for your child or as a gift.

Tagged!

Okay I've been tagged by my good friend Rayette to display the fourth folder, fourth picture. Since I have a gazillion folders I went for the year 2008 and picked the forth folder (June - because it is sorted alphabetically).

Ironically enough this is the fourth image from that folder:



From Beeb's 4th birthday!

My Greatest Joys!

I posted this on my other blog but thought I had better put this here too. I captured this today while scouting out a location for a photo shoot. I am thrilled they are not fighting and are actually touching!!!

A Dilemma

I have a dilemma. Do I start "The Host" tonight and risk not being able to put it down and get a good nights rest, or do I wait until tomorrow?

Thanks Erin for the temptation (and the book)!

Mr. B and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Mr. B had a really rough day at school yesterday. He had to leave his class twice to regroup, had a hard time following directions, poured glue all over his desk, drew on another childs leaf and bit the teacher. One phone call and one email later (one from each of his teachers) and know I have a son who is out of control. I don't know why he had a hard day, especially since he had a fantastic morning at home, but we have noticed (AH & I) that the "hyper" part of Mr. B's AD/HD has been in overdrive the past few weeks.

So as a result I talked extensively with Mr. B this morning about our two house rules, no hitting & no pushing, and school behavior (same rules apply there too). He assured me he would follow the rules.

I stuck close by him all morning and he "forgot" the rules often and as a result got to spend a large chunk of time in the "timeout corner". For the most part I really try to avoid timeouts because if they are used more than 3 times a day they are not working (so we learned from a parenting consultant/expert) BUT in the case of physical violence it is an automatic timeout, no exceptions.

After sending him off on the bus I hoped that my diligence would pan out for his teachers today. Well, I just got an email from one of them and he did GREAT! He even earned his reward (computer time) for doing so well in class.

Way to go Mr. B!



Now I only have to stick to him like glue for the next 13 years. :P

Family Ties . . .

I just talked with my brother for the first time in twenty years. So strange. I can still feel the adrenialyn in my system and my hands are shaking. I am not sure what to think. We'll see how this pans out.