Random photos that I never posted

Dear blog,

Today I have nothing to blog about that I really want to take the time to detail. As I have promised not to neglect you for thirty straight days, I find myself realizing how difficult this task may be. To be honest, you're not the most important virtual thing in my life anymore. Farmville just treats me so much better. Do you offer me cute little robot cows as rewards for my time and dedication? No. But I will remain true to my promise and this is but day two. So today is a random photo blog of photos that have been sitting on my desktop waiting to be uploaded to the blog. I know that this is not the kind of attention you wanted, dear blog. But as my mom always used to say when I really didn't want to eat yet another year of dinners made from dad's annual slaughter of Bambi's mom - beggars can't be choosers. As I draw my 'dear diary' spoof to a close, I will leave you with my final thought: After seeing the photos on my desktop, I realize how much I will miss the warmer weather and just how much the bitter cold sucks. Until tomorrow dear blog.

Air show: Summer 2010

Summer "fishing": 2010

And let the football season begin!

Blogger, blogger...where for art thou?

Wow. Has it really been almost a month since I last updated this thing? I've become one of those bloggers that I hate to read because they never update their blasted blogs. *sigh* Oh well. I have a good excuse. Kind of. Okay...well maybe not. But I'll run with it. We had an unexpected turn in our recent plans for a nice five day trip to visit Josh's brother and his family. Let me begin with this: I've been searching for the best chiropractor I can find (within financial reason of course). Who would have thought that I'd find one in the family? That's right. Josh's bro, Ben, is going to school to become a chiropractor. So he's not a doctor yet, but he is an intern and working in a clinic so in my eyes, he's pretty much a doctor. He just started working in his out patient clinic for school and needs some new patients to work out the kinks on. So guess who became his faithful patient? That would be yours truly. Yup. It's true. My new doc is actually my brother-in-law. Now if you would have asked me ten years ago that I'd be getting a physical and lots of spinal adjustments from my husbands brother, I'd have laughed hysterically in your face. But the truth is...he's just that good. After two-weeks of treatments, my severe anxiety issues are waning and my headaches are significantly decreased. How cool is that? Move over Dr. Awesome! There's a new doc in town and I call him brother. I was hesitant at first, but it's no longer an issue. I hope he's ready for the most annoying patient ever. Because as it stands, I'm fairly certain that my general practitioner sees my name on the appointment board, rolls his eyes, and says, 'Ugh...not again.' Anyhow, the ultimate plan was to take a five day trip so that I could get some much needed chiropractic care and some hopeful help for my ever-failing shoulder. What started as a quick trip ended up in a twelve day vacation with the family. (Apparently I needed more work done on my shoulder than I expected.) So right about now, you are wondering, 'Huh. Well that's wierd Jessica. How can you take a two-week trip with Josh working full-time?' Oh. Well that's easy. Josh got laid off again. Now this is the part where you gasp in shock and say, 'Oh Jessica, I'm so sorry to hear that. That really sucks!' to which I would reply, 'Eh. Whatcha gonna do?' I'd tell you what number we're on for the lay offs but I've honestly lost count. Just in time for Christmas too. Woo-hoo! (Please note that any and all enthusiasm for unemployment is, in fact, intended to be pure sarcasm and not any sign of my secret life goal to live in a cardboard box with my family of four and five cats...and two bunnies.)

So there you have it. The reason for this blogger's absence is now explained in full. Hopefully I will be able to follow my self-imposed 30 day blog challenge where I will find something to blog about for 30 straight days. Will it happen or will I fall short? Only day 30 will tell.

Lauren's 7th Birthday

I remember the day when Heather and Ben first told me that I was going to be an aunt. I couldn't believe that I was about to watch as my sister-in-law grew a little baby in her belly. I was so excited that I couldn't stop smiling. A new baby. That was pretty major. When little Lauren was born, I was as nervous as could be when I first held her. A sweet little bundle of cuteness. As I remember this day, I find it most difficult to believe that this moment was actually seven years ago. Seven! Quite a few children later, it's as if the life before children never really existed. But for the first time in a while, I actually got to go celebrate my niece's birthday at her home this year. They decided to celebrate it with pizza (homemade pizza pockets for my allergy boy), birthday cake, and a pumpkin carving contest. It was really fun for everyone, adults included. So after countless cakes that I've decorated, I told miss Lauren that if she wanted me to, I'd be glad to decorate her a horse cake. Because, as most young girls do, she is completely in love with the equine world. I'm fairly certain that her mom was okay with this as she did give me the green light to bring my decorating stuff to whip up a cake for the party. I think that it didn't turn out half bad. Lauren was hopeful for a bright red halter, but hey...I'm not perfect and it turned out dark pink instead. I'm sure she won't hold it against me forever. :-)

The strangest part of the weekend was my daughters new found independence. She usually spends the majority of the time suction-cupped to my leg or in my lap whilst twirling my hair nervously. Not this time though. She surprised us all by being quite the little social butterfly. She was right in the middle of the present opening action. She even socialized with the adults. She still tells me that she misses Aunt Heather and Uncle Ben and wants to go back and see them again. Wierd. My little baby's growin' up! (Where are my kleenexes...*sniff*)

We then went out to carve our pumpkins. It was supposed to be a contest, but in the end, we were all winners. (I swear I didn't mean that to sound as sappy as it came off.) I carved a horse pumpkin. Naturally. No pattern either. I suppose my art degree is worth something from time to time. It's not the best view, but you get the idea.

The cake was a hit with everyone. But I'm sure it was most appreciated by the kids (and me...as I can't seem to live without massive doses of sugar on a daily basis). Here are my kids and their cousins enjoying their pre-bedtime sugar.

So by the end of the weekend, I had two more orders for future birthday cakes from my other two nieces. I believe a purple unicorn and a monkey cake if I'm not mistaken. I guess I'd better reserve those dates on the calendar because I'm about to change status from 'cool aunt that can draw', to 'cool aunt that can make pretty birthday cakes'. (I added the 'cool' part myself. Hey...I'm hopeful.)

Here is the video of our pumpkin parade. That's a whole lotta pumpkins!

Trick-or-Treat!

I love Halloween. No, that does not make me a pagan. I just really like the festivities of it all. I love decorating and getting new freaky things to place around the house each year. My favorite cereal is Count Chocula (which only comes out for Halloween these days). Carving pumpkins is a blast. Of course, I neglected to get a photo of my pumpkin this year. Well, actually, I carved one at my niece's birthday party and I'll blog about that tomorrow. And let's not forget the obscene amount of candy. Oh candy, how I love thee. Chocolate especially. I guarantee that I've gained at least three pounds just by eating candy in the last three days. Okay, so maybe not quite that much. But close.

So Halloween this year was the most fun yet since the introduction of children into my life. The first year with Alex, I could barely walk as I had just had a massively painful birth. The second year...still not living up to my expectations. Fast forward. This year? A ton of fun! The kids were so pumped to go trick-or-treating and they were even more pumped to wear costumes. Abby was set on being a fairy princess and Alex was set on being Woody from Toy Story. I tried to purchase the costumes, but at a whopping $15 each, I decided to improvise. I made a few things, purchased a few things, and the result? Two of the cutest kids on the face of Earth for only $5 each!

Alex was really lookin' adorable in his homemade Woody costume. I sewed the vest myself, thank you very much.

And Abby? What more can I say than this. Cutest. Princess. Ever.

And I have dressed up for Halloween almost every year of my life I'd venture to say. There may be a few years off and on when I was 'too cool' to dress up. But not anymore, my friends! I'm all for looking as ridiculous as I can. I sported my sumo suit again this year. I love my sumo suit.

My dad stayed at our house to hand out candy. I decorate the house every year so it is misleading to not have candy at least when the big night comes around. He's making it a tradition to wear his ghillie suit (hunting outfit). He gets a kick out of scaring the daylights out of the teenagers that come by. It makes me laugh.

Alex and Abby were really in their elements and I escorted them to the door in hopes of finding milk-free candy instead of the constant handfuls of chocolate. I'm lucky to live in a neighborhood where the people are very understanding when I take a look at the candy they have before they give it to them. A lot of people only have chocolate but don't worry. I took care of all the evidence. It's as if it never really existed. *burp* ;-)

Grandma was there to be the official wagon puller and helped the kids in and out when the time called for it.
So all in all, it was a great night and I think that Halloween will just get better as the years go bye. Here's a video of us trick-or-treating. Gotta love that sumo booty!

Once upon a time...

Some nights, I am just so drained from the day that I just don't have that extra fifteen minutes in me to read books to the kids. So I opt for a different bedtime routine. I tell the kids each one story. It's usually very short, 100% ad-lib, and they absolutely love it. The stories vary from night to night. One night Alex wants to be a tractor and Abby a princess. The next night Abby wants to be a pony and Alex wants to be a dump truck. See a trend? Anyhow, occasionally the kids ask if they can tell me a story. Usually the story starts and ends in about three seconds flat and aren't much in the way of creative. But tonight, Alex asked me to sit on his bed so he could tell me a story and I listened as he weaved a magical tale from his young mind. And it was the most wonderful story I've ever heard. Though I will try to tell it as he did, I am sure I will miss a few things. I literally came straight to the computer to write it down so I would never forget. Just imagine the story being told in a four-year old's voice and the adorableness will shine through. My story goes something like this...

Princess Mommy

Once upon a time, there was a princess called Princess Mommy. Princess Mommy was very great and very cool. She was very fantastic and she always would play with me every day. She drove a tractor too. Princess Mommy was so really fun and played with me. She would run, jump, play games and do all kinds of things with me. She danced and went outside to play. And it was really fun. One day she flied on a really big airplane with me and we went high up in the sky. The sky was very cool and mommy was very beautiful. And at the end of the day Princess Mommy went home and she sat on my bed. She sat down on my bed with me and Abby. It was really great and fun. And I love her veeeeerrry much! The end.

(insert happy mom tear drop here.)

I love these little faces!

Nothing proves that your kids are actually yours like a super-duper close-up photo. I see myself in Abby and I see Josh in Alex. Have I mentioned how much I love these kids? Well, in case I haven't. I sure do love my two kids. They are the light of my life.

Donut as I do

This past weekend, we got to visit Josh's family for some birthday fun. It was really nice to get to actually be there for one of my niece's birthdays. It seems that we can never really make it out that way for things like this. But of course, I'll write more about the weekend in a later blog. For now, I have a little moment to share. If you know anything at all by now after reading this blog, then you are more than aware of my son's deadly milk allergy. So I won't bore you with the blah, blah, blah of that history. My daughter, on the other hand, is allergy-free but lives the life of a milk allergic kid. Why? Eh. It's easier that way. Safer too. But as both the kids grow, I've become more and more aware that my paranoia about Alex's allergy has inadvertently been transferred to Abby. Oops. It has been so second hat to me to keep her just as far from milk as Alex that I've almost become blind to the idea that milk won't hurt her. This weekend, as tradition seems to show, my father-in-law woke up on Saturday with the usual cravings for sugary goodness. Donuts. Dreaded donuts. Those blasted pastry concoctions are impossible to find dairy-free. So I've resorted to making donuts from scratch. Due to the deadly nature of donuts, miss Abby has also missed out on their sugary goodness. But this weekend, when the four large boxes of donuts were spread haphazardly across the table, she merrily crawled up into a chair to have one of her own. I, of course, was not present at the table as I tore through the kitchen attempting to find something of equal value to replace the lack of donuts for Alex. This is when Ben approaches me and quietly asks me if it's okay that Abby has a donut. Because like or not, she was already chowing down on one. It turns out that she popped her little hand into a box, picked out her very first donut, and proceeded to swallow it whole. Okay, so she did actually chew it, but I honestly don't believe that I've ever seen her eat anything so quickly in all her life. I must admit that when I was alerted to the situation, a mild wave of panic swept through me. I immediately did a mental run of what I needed to do in super-speed. Medical bag, dose of benedryl, epipen in hand for the anaphylactic shock and 911 on hold. Of course I didn't actually do any of that for Abby. But hey, I can't help it. Four years of constant milk radar doesn't slide so easily. After my brief moment of panic I shrugged and gave in to the inevitably obvious conclusion that has somehow evaded my mind for her 2 1/2 years. Abby isn't allergic to milk. Duh. Then the new panic set in. What if Alex sees? What if he cries? What if he doesn't understand why Abby is different than him? What if when I'm not looking he grabs a donut because she grabs a donut? Turns out that Alex didn't notice and all was right with the world. I suppose I'll have to face those questions some day but for now we'll just stay milk-free. And maybe when I'm feeling sneaky, I'll share a donut with Abby when big brother isn't looking.