It's Snow Time!

We had a white Christmas here. How wonderful is that? It was especially wonderful because I have two kids who think snow is the greatest thing since the discovery of sand. But in essence, it is better than sand. Why you ask? Because like sand, you can dig, throw, scoop, shape, roll in and make a mess with it. But unlike sand, you apparently can eat it without the discomfort of pooping it out later. Okay, okay. Too much information, right? But, no. I do not necessarily approve of snow eating (for the most part). Fresh snow: okay. Three day old snow that every squirrel in the neighborhood has peed on: not okay. But, nevertheless, snow time was a blast for the kiddos. They had so much fun playing outside even though it was in limited bursts of time. The second time we went out, the snow was actually the perfect consistency for a snowman. I really haven't made an actual snowman in quite a while. But I decided that seeing as how Josh has been gone and couldn't be outside to join us in the snowy goodness, I'd build a Snow Josh. AKA, Snow Dad. At his job, he is required to wear a hard hat (thank goodness) so lucky for me, I just happened to have a handy dandy toy hard hat to make our Snow Dad complete. I just figured that if I couldn't have a man around the house then I might as well make one. Unfortunately, within minutes of creating my perfect snowman, the kids promptly saw to it to destroy him. Sorry Josh. Kids. What are ya gonna do? But after many snow angels, snowballs, snow in the face, snow eating and snowman building...it was time to go in for a nice cup of hot (soy) cocoa. I will say that I never really thought much of snow the last decade or so. Now with kids, I really do think it's pretty awesome stuff.

Monkeys

Just thought I'd share a fun video with you all. But I suppose I should address a couple of things about the video before you watch it. You will understand my points when you watch it.

1. Yes. I let my kids jump on the couch. They get bored and the house is small. I'm okay with it. Besides, it's become impossible to stop them.

2. No. I no longer own shirts that are not stretched out on the bottom. I can thank Abby for that.

3. Yes. I encourage the monkey-like behavior that they tend to portray. Of course...I truly believe that it's sort of an unstoppable trait they both have.

4. Abby is usually joining in the insanity when she's not hanging off my shirt or sucking her thumb.

5. Yes. My couches always look like that.

Christmas

Another Christmas has already come and gone. And I say it every year, but I can't believe another year is almost over. This Christmas was wonderful. I will say that having children during the holidays makes things infinitely better. This year, Alex is old enough to mildly understand the concept of Santa Claus. He woke up on Christmas morning and saw the glorious gifts staring back at him under the twinkling of the lights and said, "Mom, Santa came!" It was wonderful. The smile on the kiddo's faces was my best Christmas gift ever. I know now why my parents sacrificed so much during the holidays just to give us a nice Christmas. But of course, it's not all about the gifts. As per tradition, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before tearing into the presents. It was so much fun and I know that it just gets better every year. It really is my favorite holiday. I love getting presents for the kids in the family and making all sorts of tasty treats to give away to family and friends. But I must admit that I am ready for a break. It's time to return to normalcy. And with that note, you should know that the Christmas tree was gone mere hours after waking up on the 26th. I'd had one full month of tearing Alex and Abby off of the tree and pulling ornaments out of Abby's mouth. Actually we had quite a few ornament casualties this year and some of them were due to partial digestion (Abby). Yuck. Anyhow, I know that I am late in getting up my Christmas photos, but I was busy enjoying the rare moments of having a husband around for a day.

We exchanged gifts with Mandy and her wee ones a couple of days before Christmas and they had a blast with the first gifts of the season. And yes, that is a cat butt in the picture. Christmas is the cats' favorite holiday too. They love the trash part of it. Boxes, paper and string, oh my!

This is Alex and Abby going bananas when I told them it was time to open presents.

Alex loved going through his stocking. He pulled one thing out at a time with joy.

Abby mostly just dumped the whole stocking on the floor without even thinking about the element of surprise. But as you can see by the look on her face, she was pretty excited about everything in it. Those are stickers. Santa knows what the kids like.

Josh's parents gave him a Patriots calendar. That would be his favorite football team.

Alex got a Woody doll to match his Buzz Lightyear that I found at a garage sale. He was very happy.

Abby's favorite was her tea set. She can't get enough of this toy. She plays with it nearly every day, serving me tea and cake whenever she can.

This is my favorite picture by far. I giggle every time I see it. Abby got a pink bunny with a pink baby backpack carrier and a pink purse. Guess who uses it now? Yup...that's my little man! And yes, that is a Wiggles shirt he is wearing.

And just for fun, I threw in a picture of the kiddos Christmas ornaments for this year. I couldn't really afford the arm and leg it costs to buy fun ornaments that the kids might actually have a connection to so I Suzy Homemaker-ed a couple of them up. Seeing as how they are avid Wiggles fans, I wanted to make them Wiggles ornaments. $1.00 later, and lots of random arts and crafts from around the house, I have these. They say: Alexander's Wiggly Christmas and Abigail's Wiggly Christmas.

So it was wonderful and I look forward to it again next year. For now I'm just glad that the kids have new things to do to keep them busy during the long winter ahead. And where am I in the photos you might ask? Yes...I have zero photos that involve me. Mama Monkey is the photographer. Oh well...maybe next time. I hope you all had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did!

Funday Sunday - Pumpkin Pie, Dairy Free!

Could it be? Is it really possible that there is a way to make pumpkin pie without milk in it? Why yes. Yes it is. I figure, in spirit of the holiday, I will post a holiday recipe. Okay, so you can get a pumpkin pie recipe just about anywhere on the internet, right? Well, it's true. I mean, all you have to do is google it and bingo! There's a pumpkin pie recipe lookin' back at ya!. Shoot, you can even get it off the side of a can of pumpkin. But if you have a milk allergy, nearly every recipe you find will include one key ingredient: evaporated milk. It's sorta necessary for the pie to work. There's no such thing as canned evaporated soy milk. So after some research, I found that you can, in fact make evaporated soy milk. Without further ado, I give you Pumpkin Pie, Dairy Free!

Pumpkin Pie, Dairy Free!

2 Eggs: beaten
1 1/2 c. Pumpkin
3/4 c. Sugar
1/2 t. Salt
1 t. Cinnamon
1/2 t. Ginger
1/4 t. Cloves
4 1/3 c. Plain soy milk*
1 Uncooked pie crust

The first thing you will want to do is evaporate your soy milk. This is a very long process because you have to evaporate the soy milk down by 50%. A normal pumpkin pie takes 1 & 2/3 cups of regular evaporated milk (1 can) and in order to get soy milk (which is extremely low fat) to work in an evaporated form, you have to start with twice the amount you need. The purpose of evaporated milk is to have the fatty part of the milk which is why soy milk doesn't work well in puddings and pies. Pour your milk into a saucepan and simmer it down over a medium-low heat. I will warn you that it takes at least an hour to evaporate it to 50%. Stir continuously so that you prevent scorching or boiling over. I use a wooden spoon to stir.** Once you have your evaporated milk, let it cool in the fridge so that it is at least warm and not boiling hot. Mix the eggs, pumpkin, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Finally, add the evaporated soy milk and mix it all well. Pour it in the uncooked pie shell and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (the soy milk can increase the cook time from what I've experienced so that is why I say up to an hour.) The pie is done, when you can insert a knife into the middle and it comes out clean. The pie will look slightly darker than your traditional pumpkin pie but tastes identical!

*I've never used vanilla soy milk on this because I think it might not cook down the same as plain. Sugars can do weird things when they get heated. **Tip: You can use the handle of the wooden spoon to keep track of your evaporated milk process. Before turning on the heat, dip the handle into the milk to measure depth and mark that spot with your fingernail/knife on the spoon. Make a mark at the halfway point on the spoon and every so often, just dip the handle into the milk and see how close you are to the 50% point.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas. We got the joy of a white Christmas this year. Actually, I'll be digging my way out of our three foot snow drifts that have graced us by accumulating right behind my van. Go figure. We get to go eat a delicious turkey dinner at my mom and dad's house in a few hours. The kids are happily playing...or rather fighting over...their Christmas loot. But let's not forget the reason for the season. Happy birthday Jesus! I hope you all have a blessed Christmas this year.

~ Love from the Little Monkeys

Ink a Bink, a Face Full of Ink

Today was a new experience for me. Seeing as how Josh is gone...always gone...my days are longer. But at a certain point in the evening, I can't seem to find enough time to finish the many things that must be done around here. It all starts with dinner and ends with me suffering from back pain as I run amok through the house while I finish the last chores of the day. (Where's a good chiropractor when you need one? Eh, Ben?) Anyhow, in order to progress in the slightest bit towards the end of the evening, I have come to rely on ulterior forms of entertainment. The Wiggles only go so far, so lately I've been giving Alex and Abby different items to entertain themselves while I vacuum. Tonight, I gave them paper and pens. Now, now. Don't judge me for giving them pens at such a young age. They were early Christmas presents that I gave them. They are little pads of paper on a Santa clipboard that comes with a tiny ink pen. Cute and made for kiddos. Okay, so maybe not made for a 20 month old, but she doesn't seem to understand that she isn't as old as Alex. So...she got one too. To say the least, it worked. Oh, they were entertained alright. Only, not exactly as how I planned. They decided that the paper wasn't interesting enough and decided to have a pen battle. This is new for me. Usually, when they get bored, they simply draw on themselves instead of each other. But could they just stick to the routine? No. Of course not. I looked over to see them whacking each other across the face (whilst laughing, mind you) with the pens. And I don't mean just mere drawing on one another. They actually caused red welts to develop over their entire faces. One mark was actually a few centimeters from an eyeball! What I don't understand is how there were no tears shed in this little battle of ink. I mean, the welts were huge! And everywhere! *sigh* Needless to say, they no longer possess those pens and I officially won the "Idiot mom move of the year' award.

Who Dunnit?

I present to you the classic 'who dunnit' scenario. Two suspects and only one guilty party. Judging purely from the photographs, it is very difficult to say which of the two suspected characters could be responsible for the damage done. Here I have Exhibit A:


Clearly you can see that damage has been done. I, being the detective in this situation, decided to clean up the mess so as not to give the suspect reason to return and finish the damage. As you can clearly see, the toilet paper has been unraveled and shredded beyond use and recognition. In a house of two kids and five cats, the possibilities are endless. The first to return to the scene is seen in Exhibit B:

Due to lack of declawing, it is apparent that suspect "Penny" was possibly returning to the scene to further the damage to the poor unsuspecting roll of toilet paper. But upon investigating, a second suspect returned to the scene of the crime. See Exhibit C:

Due to the age and pure nature of the above suspect, it was even more clear to me that there was indeed a very good chance that suspect "Abby" was also fully capable of rendering a perfectly good roll of toilet paper unusable. After interrogating the suspects, the crime was solved. Let us see who was responsible for the toilet paper's ultimate demise...

Case solved.

Funday Sunday - Granola Bars

What kid doesn't enjoy a good granola bar every now and then? Or what adult for that matter? The problem with prepackaged granola bars is that I have yet to find a single one (and believe me, I've looked) that does not contain milk or nuts of some form. So when I get in that 'granola-mood', I make my own. This, like the previous Funday Sunday recipe, has many possibilities. The less allergies you have, the more fun you can have of course. My kiddos love them of course and Josh gobbles his fair share up too. I tell ya, I love rolled oats. They have so many uses!

Granola Bars

1/2 c. Butter
3/4 c. Brown Sugar
1/3 c. Corn Syrup
1 Egg
1/2 t. Vanilla
3 1/2 c. Oats
1/2 c. Raisins*
1 c. Chocolate Chips**

Mix the butter, sugar and corn syrup together in a bowl. Add the egg and vanilla. Third, add the oats, raisins and chocolate chips to the mixture and mix well. Grease a 9x13 pan and firmly press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until it's light brown on the top. It usually takes me around 23 minutes. Cool for two hours before eating (but they taste pretty darn good warm with a glass of (soy) milk). Expect them to be slightly crumbly. I don't know what the manufacturers do to keep them nice and firm, but a little crumble never hurt anyone.

*I've substituted the raisins with dried cranberries. They are really tasty in the mix. And I've even added both to change it up. I figure you could put just about any dried fruit you want in there. Blueberries, apricots, coconut, etc. My favorite is coconut and cranberries.
**If you don't have any kind of milk or nut allergy the chocolate chips can be substituted for just about any kind of chip (or no chips at all if preferred). I have always wanted to try 1/2 cup peanut butter chips and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Drizzle a little melted chocolate chips over the top of the cooled bars and you could have a really nice peanut-butter cup granola bar. Yum!
***Just FYI...marshmallows don't hold up in the oven so don't waste them trying but I bet peanuts or almonds would be tasty.

Christmas Vote

I'm putting it to a vote folks! I have three photos that I am going to put on this blog and I'd like to have your opinion on which one I should give out for Christmas. All three of them are pretty cute pictures of the kiddos, but trying to photograph Abby is near impossible. So keep that in mind when you see her sucking her thumb. I'm putting a poll up on the side bar of the blog so if you check out this blog, please, please, please vote. These are by no means professional photos. Abby wanted to do nothing but scream and Alex wanted to watch her scream and laugh at her. So I don't have plans to get professional photos done. That, and I can't really afford a pro. So let me know what you think. I'm leaving the poll open until Friday. I have to have the pictures mailed out by Saturday if there's any hope of getting them delivered by Christmas. Your opinion counts!

#1 - Alex & Abby Close-up

#2 - Alex & Abby Christmas

#3 - Alex & Abby Zoo

Smooth Transition

So it's done. The crib is gone as of today. Last night after miss Abby went to bed, she got out of her crib for the last time. I put her to bed just like always and after at least a half hour of screaming and 'Mommy! I wanna rock!', she decided to just do it her way. I heard the tell tale sound of her kicking the wall through her crib and then I heard a large THUD directly afterwards. At first I was heading to go check on her because I thought she might have hurt herself. But by the time I got to the door, she was happily talking to herself. Granted, the noises I heard coming from her sounded like it was closer than the distance it was to her crib. But I chalked it up to possible hearing loss issues and decided to avoid going in the room. Because as we all know, going back in the room usually only makes things worse. So about ten minutes later I decided that she had been quiet so long that she was more than likely asleep and I should go check to make sure she didn't have a pillow over her head or something. I went to open the door and it was stopped by something in the way. It was Abby. She had thrown her pillow and blankets out of the crib, climbed out, and proceeded to curl up in front of the door on the floor. I looked down at my precious little, thumb-sucking doorstop and said, "What are you doing on the floor Abby?" She grinned up at me and said, "I sleeping." *sigh* So I said, "You need to go to your crib and sleep." To which she instantly jumped up with her blankets in tow and ran to the rocking chair saying, "No! I wanna rock, mom!"

So in hopes of not putting her life in danger by falling out of the crib, I decided to replace it first thing this morning. I was very concerned that she would not take a nap for her first day in the 'big girl bed', but to my massive surprise, she zonked out within five minutes. On her own. No rocking needed. No escape attempts. Nothing! Not a single issue. I couldn't be more thrilled. Now bedtime will tell me the ultimate result of the transition, but for now, it appears to be a smooth sailing!

Funday Sunday: Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

This Sunday's edition of Funday Sunday is brought to you by Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies. This recipe has been passed on to me by my mom who shall from here on be referred to as the best cook ever. This recipe, though deceiving by the name, can be made 100% milk and peanut free. It's a very good recipe that has countless possibilities when it comes to different combinations. You just change up the different kinds of chips and pudding flavors that are out there. Now as far as dairy free goes, I've never found any other flavor other than chocolate for the chips. But a good majority of Jello® brand pudding oddly enough has no milk in it. Just be sure to always double check the label if you have a milk allergy like Alex does. So without further ado, here's the goods.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

1 c. Butter*
1/4 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Brown sugar
2 Eggs
1 t. Vanilla
1 Box of vanilla instant pudding**
1 t. Baking soda
2 1/4 c. Flour
1 Package of chocolate chips***

Mix butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the dry pudding mix and stir until mixed well. Add the baking soda and flour and mix and then add the package of chocolate chips. Spoon out on a cookie sheet (I don't grease my pan because it's supposed to be non-stick, but you could use a lightly greased pan if the cookies seem to stick). Bake at 375 degrees until lightly brown. Now...if you use chocolate pudding it is a bit harder to see how brown they are so I'd venture to say check them after about ten minutes. The funny thing about my mom is that she never really was one for setting timers on her food. She passed that down to me.

*For a good stick 'butter' that is 100% milk-free I've found that Blue Bonnet Light works great.
**For allergy-free families, you can use any kind of chip. White chocolate and butterscotch are really tasty in these. There are two brands I've found that are milk-free. Kroger Value brand Semi-sweet chocolate chips and Baker's Choice chocolate chunks.
***Make sure you check the allergen label on Jello® brand pudding if you want milk-free. But try changing it up with different flavors. White chocolate chips with fudge pudding, chocolate chips with butterscotch pudding, cherry chips with lemon pudding...the possibilities are endless!

Lonely Holidays

Today starts the beginning of a very long and lonely 21 days. About two days ago, Josh called and told me that he will be working out of town for 21 days. Now, at first I didn't think anything of this. I mean, even with his first employer here, he worked out of town for a week at a time. The difference between that job and this job, is that he will no longer be spending his weekends at home. He is actually working for 21 straight days, 12 hours each day. I thought only robots were expected to work those kind of hours. But at least they turn machines off to cool for awhile, right? So three straight weeks of working 7 twelve hour days. I guess it's a job that needs to be done by the beginning of next year, but still. It's Christmas people! Who works like this during the holidays. So when he told me I was flabbergasted. I didn't know how to respond. 21 days straight of no breaks where I hand the kids to daddy and get some personal time. 21 days of no Josh. So other than play-dates with Mandy, my only adult interaction will be the TV and I don't even have cable. The good news is that the paychecks should be fairly nice and the company is putting him up in a nice hotel with all expenses (including food) paid for on the company credit card. The bad news is that I'm spending the holiday season by myself. Ugh. When I asked him if that meant that he will be working on Christmas Day, he said he had to ask. So when he asked, One of them said, "Look Josh, Christmas is just another day of the year." And lucky for me, Josh had told the other guys that are doing this job that his wife wasn't too happy about not seeing him for Christmas. So the other guys piped up and said, "Um, yeah man. It's not just another day to Josh's wife." So they said okey dokey and told him they would all go home for Christmas day. So at least we will see him for the day. I would be really upset if the kids couldn't spend Christmas with their dad. Now, on the other hand, this means we won't get to spend our 8th anniversary together or New Years day/eve. But I suppose I can't have it all this year. So for the next three weeks, I'll be having very long days. I'll look forward to seeing him when/if he comes home to visit anytime. But I can't expect him to do that because I know that twelve hours of work is pretty heavy duty stuff. I can't even fathom what it must be like for people who's spouse is in the military so my hat goes off to them. Oh, and I am also using a very old computer to connect to the internet. It's a fickle machine with quite a few issues, so blogging may be a bit off this month. Hope you all understand. Until then...wish me luck. It's gonna be a long lonely holiday season.

That's Nasty

Okay. I have a date with my couch in about thirty minutes for my nightly Star Trek episode. So I think I'll just share with you my fun experience of the day. Okay, so really it's just Abby's experience for the day. But I had to witness it and it was enough to make my stomach go all queezy. Apparently, no matter how high or how far back I put things that I don't want the kids to reach, it will inevitably be reachable by one or both of the monkeys. I make banana shakes every morning. Basically it is just their soy-milk with a banana blended into it. But they love it and have one nearly every single morning. Today Alex ate so much breakfast that he didn't drink all of his. So I threw his cup in the sink and forgot to rinse it out. Well...miss Abby decided tonight that I wasn't getting dinner ready fast enough. So after I realized that it was much too quiet for two toddlers, I went looking for her, only to find her under her cube slide, hiding out. She had somehow climbed up, fished the nasty old cup of banana milk (at least 8 hours old) out of the sink, and took off to go drink it. By the time I got to her, it was all but gone. First, I grabbed it out of her tiny guilty hands...then I gagged a few times...then I tried to explain to her that it was yucky to do something like that. She grinned and said 'good shake mom.' I then proceeded to gag again. Eww. Since then, I have been fully prepared to clean up vomit at some point tonight. But so far so good. Good thing soy-milk doesn't curdle as fast as milk. But still....that's nasty.

Pitter-patter

Right now, as I type, I can hear the pitter-patter of little feet heading for the bedroom door. This ordinarily wouldn't be an issue. But seeing as how it is past 9:00 p.m., it can only mean that someone is awake. So if you'll excuse me for a moment...


Okay. I'm back. You see, Abby has decided to give up her crib. So at bedtime, I spend the better half of an hour taking her back to her crib and telling her to stay there and go to sleep. So thus, the pitter-patter of little feet can only mean one thing. She has escaped her prison...no wait...I mean crib...again. And again and again and again. She refuses to stay in it now that she has mastered her escaping skills. So as a result, this weekend I will be replacing her crib with the lovely toddler bed that Alex never wanted to use. He is lucky enough to get the big twin bed. I'd love nothing more than to give Abby her own twin bed too, but seeing as how they share a teeny tiny room, there is not enough space for two beds. (Please, oh please, let Josh keep a job so we can move someday. Because I'm not sure if they will be able to adjust to sharing bunk-beds when they are teenagers.) So as of this weekend we will most likely be a crib-free home. Wow. Times are changing so fast with these kiddos. No more baby toys. No more cribs. Alex has outgrown his carseat and has to move to a booster a year earlier than most kids due to his nearing the 40 pound mark. And hopefully I can add 'no more diapers' to this list soon. Abby is showing signs of wanting to potty train. She asks to use the potty all the time now (with a very small success rate). So I suppose I better get this blog done for the night. I can hear the pitter-patter again. *sigh* What a little turkey...

Funday Sunday

Today marks the day of my 200th blog entry. Wow...I can't believe that I've blogged 200 times! That's amazing. So in honor of my 200th blog, I will be starting a new thing. Every Sunday, I will be posting a recipe that I have found (or use regularly) that I think is worth sharing. My mom taught me my mad cooking skills and I hope to pass those skills on to my children someday. They already join me in the kitchen and 'help' bake when they can. Naturally, it mostly makes a larger mess for me to clean up, but it's worth it in the end. Hey, gotta learn somehow, right? And seeing as how I have a child with a milk allergy and am still avoiding nuts, most of my recipes or fun foods that I find will be milk-free and nut-free. I'll be giving tips as to what products to use for anyone who might read this blog that also has a milk allergic person in their family. I will be calling this blog Funday Sunday and hope to post it every Sunday. Today's recipe is for Chocolate Soy-Pudding--yes, you can have pudding with soy milk! Woo-hoo! And here's a fun little note about my picture of the eggs in a bowl. I was making scrambled eggs this morning and when I cracked all four eggs, I looked down to see that they randomly created a happy face. Funny stuff I tell ya. Enjoy!

Chocolate Soy-Pudding

3/4 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Cornstarch
1/3 c. Cocoa
3 c. Soy milk (vanilla or chocolate tastes best)
1/4 t. Salt
1 1/2 t. Vanilla
3 T. Butter

Mix cocoa, sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a saucepan. Slowly add the milk, whisking continuously to prevent lumps. Bring this mixture to a boil with medium heat. Continuously whisk to prevent burning. Once mixture is boiling, lower the eat to simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes until it thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla. Refrigerate for one hour or overnight.

*Tips: This pudding is best served cold, but I tried it warm and it was tasty too. It saves well in the fridge. For a good stick 'butter' that is 100% milk-free I've found that Blue Bonnet Light works great for my cooking needs. It has a lot of water in it because it has no milk so it can make things softer than normal, but it works great. Plus, you can pretty much find this stuff at any grocery store.

Birthday Wishes

December seems to be a busy month of the year as far as celebrations go. There are quite a few birthdays and Josh and I have our anniversary as well. Then, of course, there is Christmas and New Year's Eve. It can be very hectic. I try to give a birthday shout out to everyone in the family when it' their big day, but seeing as how I have quite a few family members with birthdays, I would like to take this moment to wish them all a very happy birthday. For some, the birthday wish comes a tad late and for others, the wish comes far too soon. So here we go:

Happy Birthday Mina and Noah! My twin nephew and niece just turned one. I hope that it was a wonderful party for them. So begins their second year!

Happy Birthday to my brother from another mother, Josh! His birthday was also this past week. I hope he had an awesome birthday. Though my mom made him a cake and she's probably the best cook I know...soooo...I'm sure it was a great birthday. :-)

Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, Dianne! Though you are many states away, I hope you have a super wonderful birthday. I'm sure it's a great birthday simply because Jeremiah (my bro-her hubby) isn't over seas fighting the war right now.

Happy Birthday to my father-in-law, Paul! Don't worry Paul. I won't reveal your age for all to see. Will that work as my gift to you? :-) Just kidding.

Happy Birthday to Sean! He's the hubby of my friend Mandy. She's pretty much my sister so I guess that kind of makes him like a brother-in-law. He's an awesome guy and a total genius. I hope you have an awesome birthday!

Happy Birthday to Brittany, my cousin (2nd cousin, actually)! She just turned 17 years old. I can't believe it's been 17 years since she was just a tiny little baby. Wow...time flies! Thanks to the wide world of facebook, I have easy reminders of other family birthdays. It's nice. Though I really didn't have to be reminded of hers because I can remember holding her when she was just a tiny thing.

So I hope everyone had/has the best birthday this year. I truly wish you all the best.

Winter

WINTER

Tonight I got one of those phone calls from my mom that told me something bad was about to happen. She called me and told me she needed me to help with one of the horses that we have at her house. Winter, our rescue horse, was down. She couldn't get up, the poor girl. When we bought her, the people told us that she was only twelve years old, but with her being a rescue horse, we really had no idea what to expect of her with no knowledge of her history. A few weeks ago we had her teeth floated so that she could eat better and found out, as we suspected, that she was around twenty years old. We have only had her for a little over a year so you do the math. So we called the vet and he came out to see what he could do for her. We thought perhaps it was colic, but it turned out that she had a severe heart murmur and that at least one of her vital organs was massively enlarged. After giving my mom a break and sitting in the field with her, she finally decided to try and get up. I pulled and helped her every way I could, but she fell back over on her side from the effort. She tried to eat and tried to move, but her body just wouldn't let her anymore. She had the will, but not the strength. So we had to make the ultimate decision that no pet own wants to ever have to make. We had to put her to sleep. Though we have only known her a short while, it was all good times. She was a gentle old soul who gave many rides to many kids and she was well loved. We gave her the best home we could while we could. But age and time caught up with her as it usually does during first cold snaps of the year. It breaks my heart to see an animal suffer and it even harder to decide to take their life. But the vet said that there was nothing he could do for her. She just didn't have any muscle left. I feel awful for her pasture buddy, Mister, who is lost and confused now that she is gone. He stood, ever faithful, by her side until the end. It makes me wonder what heartache he feels by her loss. Come spring, we hope to find a new friend for him. I have had so many of these moments in my life with animals. I have three cows, one who is very old (Daisy) and as winter comes every year, I dread getting the call from my mom telling me that Daisy is dying. But luckily for my three ladies, they are very fat cows and seem to hold up during the bitter cold nights. They are tough old gals and I love them. So it wasn't a great night, but I know that Winter is in a better place. She's running in the great, green pastures of heaven now.

New Moon: Round 2

This past weekend, I escaped with my friend, Mandy, to go and see New Moon for our second round of late night enjoyment. Okay, so the movie isn't exactly a masterpiece, but it's fun to watch. The first time we went to see it, we sat in the balcony theater. It was lovely. I truly believe that once you sit in the luxury seating with full service (including food and drinks), you can never really return to the 'normal' theater seating. The first time we went, we had our tickets purchased a month and a half in advance. This past weekend we didn't plan. We just decided a few hours before that we should go again. We passed the kids along to our wonderfully understanding husbands and went to the latest showing. What we didn't think would happen is that nearly every sick person in the city would think that it is socially acceptable to go to a movie when they are hacking their lungs out with some ailment. Please tell me what part of a 'normal' human brain could tell someone that it is perfectly fair to go to a movie and cough so much that they can't even hear the movie just so they can pass along their sickness to the poor unsuspecting healthy people that thought it was safe to brave a movie in flu season? Seriously folks. I couldn't even concentrate on the movie because I was so sure I was going to catch some nasty bug and drag it home to my family. So did I enjoy the movie? Yes. I did. We both enjoyed it with our makeshift swine flu masks on through the entire movie. Wanna see the masks? Yes? Well...here you go...


It was funny in way that only two immature old farts like us could find it. Every time someone coughed we started laughing uncontrollably and raised our 'masks' a little higher. I also promptly went home afterward and commenced in a decontamination process that I can only hope was enough. Anyhow, though the acting wasn't great, the story was very close to the book and I plan on watching it once more with my mom (whom I willingly drug into the franchise not too long ago). Funny thing about that. I know that I watch these young actors and get all twitterpated when I see them on screen. Seriously, I actually giggled the first time Edward walked on screen. Yup. It was a real full out giggle. I didn't even know I was capable of giggling. So I feel a bit dirty-old-manish when I drool over the young characters. So I can't imagine what my mom must be feeling like. :-)
Anyhow, it was nice to get out again. I really am loving the whole 'movie scene' again. After two kids I feel as though I'm actually rediscovering a part of my 'self' again. (The-crazy-obsessed-with-movies self, that is) Funny story about the photo too. I didn't really think about this, but apparently cameras are not allowed in theaters. Later I thought to myself, "Um, duh Jessica." I suppose that is how pirating happens. So when we took our pictures during the credits we were reprimanded by one of the teenage theater employees. Don't worry though. He let us off with a verbal warning. It was hilarious.

How?

How on Earth are you supposed to reprimand your kid when he comes out of time-out looking like this?

Yeah...I couldn't keep a straight face and by the time I stopped laughing I couldn't remember what I was going to say to him.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Budding Artists

Not much has been happening lately as far as Alex and Abby goes. The days are still fairly nice out but I can feel the temperature shifting to the colder days. We actually had to wear coats outside today to keep toasty warm. But the part of the days when we spend our time inside, we are running out of fun new projects to do. One thing is certain though. These kids love love love their art time. I can't seem to keep enough paper in the house. So I decided to break out the old paints for them. I let them wear a couple of old t-shirts that I mow in and they thought that was extra special. I let them each pick a color of paint and a brush and they spent a good 20 minutes making art...abstract art...very very abstract art. I am trying to find new things for them to do. I'm pumped for Christmas so that we can start making construction paper angels, Santas, Christmas trees, and various other fun things. I've got my scissors ready and my cotton balls all in order. Bring on art time!

Notice Abby. She is very into it. She is getting more in to art than Alex is.

Happy Medium

My poor hubby is stuck in the extreme zone. He has been unemployed for a month and so as a result has been having completely idle days. No work. So he gets a call from our friendly neighborhood union and finds he has a job. He called me to relay the information about his new found employment. I could hear the disappointment in his voice almost immediately. It turns out that he has to work 1 1/2 hours away every day. Not only that, but he has to work Monday through Saturday. Mondays are ten hour days and Saturday is an eight hour day. Which means...no weekend. The poor guy is going to be exhausted every day. This is the sort of job where the people don't work to live. They live to work. We just purchased a nice cheap car for him to get to work every day about two months ago and we aren't entirely sure if this car is built for longevity like this. So we might be trading vehicles so that I will get the more unreliable car. Oh my dear van, I shall miss you if this be the case. The difficult part about having a job like this is that the Union doesn't see any job less than 1 1/2 hours away to be worthy of reimbursement. So we get to fill a vehicle up with gas daily. Ouch. So here we are. Either Josh will have no work at all or more work than a family man can take. I don't suppose we can complain though. It's work. And work is work. I just hope and pray for poor Josh. He's gonna have loooooong days and very short nights with no recovery in the middle. I know one thing is for sure. I won't be complaining about my job. Mine may be 24/7, but at least I get to spend it with the ones I love. I suppose that's how life can be...all or nothing. Where the heck is the happy medium? Oh yeah...i forgot. He got laid off from it.

Hallelujah!!

Any blog that starts with a title like this must be good news. So...yes folks. Good news! Josh has got a job! Hallelujah!! Thank the good Lord! It's been a long month. I can't even imagine how those that have been unemployed for much longer stretches must feel. Sometimes it felt like there would never be a job in sight again. Oddly enough, Josh said that he ran into an old professor on Monday that asked him about where he is working. Josh told him that he's not working at all. He told him that he would see if anyone was hiring. Josh is a really great worker and I think that his professors can see that. Now, we of course have no idea if this job is related to it at all, but regardless, we couldn't be more thrilled. Whether the job lasts two days or two years, I am just happy that I can wake up in the morning and say, "Have a good day at work, honey!" It's ironic really. This week was the first week that we actually got our first pay from unemployment because of the work it took to fix all of the crazy problems we had with it. I'm not complaining though. Not even in the slightest. The kids may have a hard time adjusting to not having Josh at home again, but they'll manage. I think Alex and Abby have gotten used to seeing their dad every morning. They ask me every morning, "Is dad stillsleeping?" I will be more than eager to tell them, "Nope. Dad's at work today." They usually know though. Dad is only sleeping if the bedroom door is closed. I have a feeling that the first day of work, Josh will be very tired, so I'll be suggesting he goes to bed before 3:00 in the morning. :-) Have I mentioned I'm thrilled? This really is the best news. After our ceiling spontaneously fell in this past week, I was afraid that things may just get worse. But, this Thanksgiving we will have a lot to be thankful for.

Boredom

This bookshelf had three shelves of books. Note that the shelves are also missing.

With dreary weather comes the inevitable boredom for kids. If it is nasty outside and there is no way else to expel the infinite amounts of energy, kids will resort to any way necessary to alleviate the pain of boredom. My children just happen to utilize their destructo-skills. They find any and every way to cause massive chaos in the house. I believe that they are trying to send me a message. The message being: "I'm bored mom. And if you don't find something for me to do then you have only yourself to blame for the mass destruction I will cause." And destroy, they do. When they are in trouble, the timeout corner has apparently become a vent for their frustration. When I'm not looking, they peel the paint off of our lovely wood paneling walls and rip the trim off of the corners. When they are just mindlessly looking outside our large picture window in the living room, they feel compelled to shred tiny bits of the energy saver coating from the glass. And when they have utilized all other forms of destruction they settle for the 'daily mess'. This consists of taking every toy and book and dumping them on the ground for no other purpose but to cause a mess. I am teaching them to clean up but it is a slow learning process. But after all of this, I have come to the conclusion that when you sell or buy a house, there should be a section stating that toddlers were raised there. It would explain away about 3/4 of the things that need to be replaced.

Swingin'

I just thought I'd post a couple of pictures of the kiddos enjoying their swing-set. They do so love their swing-set. I actually removed their 'baby' swings this week. Alex still enjoys one of them, but unfortunately he is just too big for it. his feet drag the ground and we can barely get him in and out anymore. Abby was never a big fan of her slightly different baby swing. She just loves to swing on her tummy on the big-kid swings. I'm just waiting for them to knock heads together. Anyhow...enjoy!

Grandpa

My dad - AKA, Grandpa - is great with grandkids. He is sort of the grandpa that all little kids look at and say, "Wow! Grandpa is so cool!" And Alex and Abby adore him. He's a wild and wacky guy. (And I mean my dad by that.) He is always entertaining the kids with some crazy little trick or funny face. They just can't get enough of Grandpa. I even have proof that Grandpa is a favorite around here. I have been waiting for miss Abby to say those three wonderful words to me. You know the words I speak of. "I love you." I remember the first time Alex said it to me, my heart just melted. Actually, it still melts when he says it. Abby has been talking just wonderfully. Words are flowing from that little mouth and she learns something new everyday. But one evening, my mom and dad were leaving from our house. As my dad was getting into the truck, Abby waved through the window at him and said, "I love you grandpa!" Now keep in mind, that when she says 'grandpa' she really pronounces it like "tampah". Just adorable. I know the words weren't meant for me, but hearing her say "I love you" to my dad was just precious. Since then, she has said those wonderful words to me as well, but I will always tell her that her first 'I love you' was for grandpa.

Peanut Fail

If it was appropriate to utilize four letter words (the bad kind) on a blog, I would be using them right about now. But I am doing my very best to refrain from writing or saying them for the moment. As you are aware, if you read this blog regularly, then about a month ago I decided to try and turn our house into a peanut friendly zone. Three years of avoiding them with a child who has never tested positive to peanuts on his allergy tests was long enough. So I finally became brave enough and began the great peanut challenge. It went fine. I actually got the guts to rub a little on both Alex and Abby's lips and they didn't react. Day two I gave them a teeny, tiny amount to eat. It went fine again. So since that day about three or so weeks ago, I've been randomly giving them about a pea sized amount to eat every so often with out even the slightest hint of danger.

Until today.

I was braver today and decided to give him a bit more; about the size of two peas. He put it in his mouth, told me it was bad and that he didn't like it. Then about 2 minutes later he was complaining about his throat. He asked for a drink and after the drink I looked in his mouth, only to find red, swollen spots around his tonsil area. There were a couple of, what looked like, puss-filled pockets. Keep in mind that it is really hard to look into a reluctant three-year old's mouth. But I did my best. I find myself at a loss of words for this moment. Okay...that's a lie. I'm not totally at a loss for words, but the words I want to use are not appropriate for a PG rated blog. I suppose I just don't understand the black cloud that is hovering constantly over our house lately. I have adjusted to the milk allergy and the asthma, the dog allergy, the mold allergy...blah blah blah. The list goes on. But after having so many family and friends reassure me that 'he'll be fine with the peanut test', I suppose I just expected that things would turn out fine. He'll have to go in to be officially tested, but I don't know when I am going to be willing to subject him to getting his blood drawn again. Until then, I guess it's back to soybutter for the time being. Abby, on the other hand, was fine with the peanut challenge. I suppose this is just another thing to add to my list of things to fret about. (As if having no income wasn't enough.) I'd say that things are going to look up soon, but the house might spontaneously explode. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go knock on wood...

I am Woman

I'm not a feminist. Not even in the slightest. I couldn't care less about being 'empowered' or whatever you want to call it. I am, however, born of a long line of very independent women. So I can take care of things pretty good when push comes to shove. So today I told Josh to let me do the talking to the unemployment people and guess what? Josh gave them permission to talk to me instead of him and lo and behold! Problems solved! Yup, that's right folks. We are officially going to receive unemployment benefits for Josh's down time. Woo-hoo! We won't have to live in a cardboard box after all. Okay, so it really wasn't an option to live in a box, but I did start to worry. The lovely lady I spoke to on the phone was more than helpful and we joked about how if you want something done, ask a man. If you want something done right, ask a woman. :-) Hey now...I'm only kidding people. I just got a kick out of talking to this lady. She was very nice and I'm now thankful that things are going to get back on track...sort of. I am woman. Hear me roar...at my children who are throwing things across the front room again.

Urban Legend

*************venting about to commence*************

It is my theory that people who get checks from some organization called 'The department of labor', do not, in fact, exist. They are an urban legend. There is no such thing as unemployment. It is merely an artificial organization created by some twisted individual to keep people with out jobs 'busy' in-between jobs. They tell you to call and file your claims through some crappy automated response system that is horribly constructed only then to put you on hold and tell you that the call volume is too high. Then they proceed to hang up on you and tell you to call again later. And it is even virtually impossible to actually talk to the one lone employee that answers the phone for customer service. There is no money. No check. No help. It...is...a...myth. This can be the only explanation. We have spent nearly three weeks attempting to file Josh's claims. We have been sent papers to sign to explain accusations that were false in the first place. We've been told our claims are not valid. We've been repetitively told that the claims were fixed and filed and we should expect payment shortly only to find out the next day that our claims were totally suspended pending investigation. What the heck?!? What are you supposed to do when it comes to this, folks? They leave me no other option but to believe that the entire organization is false. If we actually get a check from them, it will be a miracle because you can't get a check from something that doesn't exist.

*************venting complete*************

5 Seconds

It's amazing how the concept of time changes when you have kids. Time speeds up and so much happens so quickly. I have watched them grow into two toddlers in the blink of an eye. It's amazing and you start to respect the time that you have more and more the quicker they grow. Blah blah blah...okay...sappy part over. Time has come to mean even more to me. I just discovered that five seconds to me is nothing compared to five seconds to a three year old. I went to grab a washrag for Alex while he was in the tub, I peeked out to see what Abby was doing and I couldn't have had my back turned for more than five whopping seconds. In that five seconds, Alex grabbed his full bottle of shampoo and proceeded to squeeze it all over the tub. No...seriously...ALL over the tub. I walked back around the corner and he said, "See mom! I made a bubble bath!" Of course about 50% of it ended up dripping outside of the tub down onto the floor as well. Five seconds! Five! Ugh...it seems that a toddler can create total chaos and mass destruction in five seconds. It took me five minutes to get him rinsed off. Apparently, shampoo isn't meant to be used as bubble bath. *sigh*

My BFF

How long is a relationship meant to last in such innocence? I watch as Alex and Abby grow together. The older they get, the more they rely on one another as playmates. They are nearly never separated anymore. Where one is, the other is surely near. If Abby is finding a way to leap off of the couch into a pile of pillows, Alex is there waiting to give her a good...um...nudge. Yes, I shall call it a 'nudge'. What Alex didn't figure out how to do until he was two, Abby is quickly learning to do much sooner and much more efficiently. They are always making each other laugh...and cry. But I watch them play and giggle together, talk to each other, and ask where the other one is when they can't find one another. I can't help but wonder how long they will enjoy being friends like this. When they are 5 and 7, will they want to play together? When they are 12 and 14 will it stop being cool to be friends with your sibling? And what about when they are 22 and 24? 33 and 35? 86 and 88? I think it will be interesting to see how they grow together. I hope that I am raising them so that they have a close, lasting relationship together. But honestly, they already fight over the last cheerio. So I suppose it's only a matter of time before they will be fighting over who gets to drive the car on Friday night.

Week Three

Early tomorrow morning, there will be no annoying sound of the alarm clock to wake my sleeping husband. For so long, I would wake up to the nasal sound of the cheap alarm clock, screaming to wake Josh up at the bright old time of 5:00 a.m. I, of course, would roll back over and fall back into my somewhat peaceful slumber until the kiddos wake me up. They are my tried and true alarm clock. I'm guaranteed to never oversleep. Now the tables have turned. Somehow, the world decided that Josh and I would switch schedules. I used to be the last to go to bed and the last to wake up. Now I am the first to go to bed and the first to wake up. Since time change, the kids now go to bed one hour earlier (yay! more evening for mama!) and they wake up one and a half hours earlier. Josh, being home 24/7, has not felt compelled to go to bed at his normal time nor wake up at his normal time. I can't blame him. It's almost like a little mandatory vacation. Only, there's no job to go back to, no vacation pay, and it can be a bit depressing from time to time. Okay, so maybe it's not anything like a vacation. I don't mind having him home, but as I told him the other day (which he agreed fully with), when you get married, you aren't meant to be together 24 hours a day. Eventually you want to scream at each other from lack of personal space. Luckily, I still have play dates with my friend Mandy to keep us out of the house one or two days a week. But now that we are going on the third week of no work, I'm not sure how much longer this can go on before one of us break from the stress of the unknown. My new question is, how long do you wait for the Union to find you a job before you throw three years of schooling and steady health insurance down the drain and give up on them? For the first time in a while, I think I may need to break out my Tums again. So begins our third week of unemployment.

A Date With Fiction

It's official. Two weeks from today I have a date with a vampire...and a werewolf...and a few other fictional characters. My friend Mandy and I have tickets for the Twilight: New Moon movie that is set to hit theaters in two weeks. She, being the mama of a new baby, will be leaving her two kiddos with her hubby and we will both set off together to see our obsession on the big screen. I am so freakin' pumped! I didn't get swept up in the Twilight saga until after the first movie came out, so I didn't get the pleasure of seeing that one in the theater. Mandy tried to get me to read it because she wanted to talk about it with me. I hesitated because I know my obsessive nature. I knew that my history of becoming obsessed with movie/tv/book series can be quite...um...crazy. I have a tendency to take my fandom to strange levels. I knew that I would more than likely become a crazed fan of the books and I wasn't entirely sure I needed yet another thing to fit into the already full geek section of my brain. But one snowy winter day, I borrowed the first book from her and gave it a go. I mean, what the heck, right? I swear I have more geek knowledge in my brain than useful information. Two weeks later I owned all four books and the movie. And two weeks from today, I'll be watching New Moon (without my kids of course). Did I mention I'm freakin' pumped? Okay, so I'll let you know how it goes and I'll be sure to tell you how it is the second time when I go with my mom (I sucked her into the Twilight insanity too). Woo-hoo! Two weeks!

Snake People

Yeah, I know. You are probably reading that title and going, "Snake people? What the...?" But trust me. It couldn't be an odder situation. To continue in the potty training saga of our lives, we have hit a...well...snag. Alex has been positively terrified to sit on the toilet and poop. Annoying as that is, I've tried many avenues thus far to no avail. Finally, I sat him down and tried to reason with him. Have you ever reasoned with a three-year old? Um, yeah...it doesn't work. I asked him why he as so afraid to poop on the potty and do you know what that little monkey told me? He said this: "I don't want to poop on the potty because of the snake people." Snake People?? I have no idea what could have possibly put such an idea in his head. At first, I thought it was just a random thing to say, but then he has repetitively asked me to flush away the snake people before he goes into the bathroom. He's even woke up once at night from a nightmare and said there were snake people in his bed. I have wracked my brain trying to find a place or show or anything that could have placed that sort of image in his head, and I've come up dry. And oddly enough, his diapers have been dry of poop for the past two and half days. He only wears a diaper to bed and to poop. And I was worried that the kid was convinced that snake people were going to attack him for pooping. But once again, I was surprised. Today...here to known as the greatest day ever...Alex fought his fear of the snake people and pooped on the potty! Woo hoo! He did it from his own free will with no alternative incentive egging him on. I'm a proud mama today, folks. I guess the snake people packed up and moved to the next potty training kids house. I hope they don't move back in when it's Abby's turn.

Just Thought I'd Share

The weather around here has been at it's finest. It's been staying in the mid 60's and that is perfect for outside playing. And naturally, with Autumn comes the falling of the multitude of leaves. It's a bummer to have to rake them or mow them all up, but it's marvelous when it comes to taking photos. I don't have trees with the gorgeous reds and brilliant orange leaves. I just have the annoyingly brown ones that make a big mess. But the kids have been having a blast playing in them. Alex suffers with a runny nose from every time he decides to dive bomb into the piles. But I figure if he's on medicine, he might as well enjoy himself, right? So mostly, I just thought I'd share some of the photos of our outside time in the leaves.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was a blast this year. Both Alex and Abby are at a perfect age to enjoy trick-or-treating. Granted, neither one of them can indulge in the chocolaty plunder from the evening, but they had fun, nonetheless. Alex even got to enjoy the evening with his good buddy Wesley, or as he calls him, his brother (I'll explain in another blog). Both the kids did great. Abby surprised me by not wanting help with her bucket the entire night. She outlasted her brother! Every time we would ask her if she wanted us to take her bucket, she would just say, "No!" But I think the best part of the evening was the great costumes we wore. Are you ready for it? Has the suspense got you on the edge of your seat wondering what amazingness awaits? Well get ready, folks. Because it's...

WIGGLE TIME!!

That's right! We went as the Wiggles! Okay...so we aren't exactly the most convincing as the Wiggles. But hey...I thought it was pretty darn fun. As you can see, the real Wiggles are much cooler.
But you gotta give me some credit here. The costumes cost less than real costumes and are reusable. They can wear them every single day if they wanted to (and believe me Alex has begged to wear the outfit every day).

Alex is Greg Wiggle (Yellow)...

Abby is Jeff Wiggle (Purple)...

Josh was Murray Wiggle (Red)...

and I went as Anthony Wiggle (Blue).

I feel bad for the blue wiggle. I did quite possibly the worst representation of him...ever. He's much nicer to look at in black pants than I am (wink, wink). But it was darn funny. I got a nice black wig so that I could look more like a man. Um...not a good wig, mind you, but it's better than long red hair, right? Anyways, here are the kids in their element.

But, I must say that the highlight of the night was my dad. My dad, for those of you that don't know, is quite the character. So, seeing as how I decorated the house for the occasion, I wanted to have someone hand out candy. So my dad eagerly volunteered for the position. He wanted to dress up, so he got in his hunting gear and this is what he looked like in the end...

Yup. That's my dad! It's called a ghillie suit. We called him the tree man. But I think he looks a bit like bigfoot. It cracked everyone up and he had a blast scaring the daylights out of the teenager trick-or-treaters. Hey, my theory is that if you are a teenager trick-or-treating then you got it comin'. It was awesome.

So we had a great night and I am sure it will only get more fun the older the kids get. So I hope you all had a fun time too. I know it's a couple days delayed, but Happy Halloween!