Arrr! It's Halloween Matey!!

Was that pirate talk in the subject line Jessica?? Why yes. Yes it was. Why you ask? Well, Because I am a pirate! Well, actually I was just a pirate for Halloween. For years now, I've wanted to get in touch with my inner pirate and there is really only one day a year that it would be socially acceptable. Ya know...unless you're actually a pirate. Anyhow, moving on. Halloween gets to be more fun every year with the kiddos. I love that they love it as much as I do. They love dressing up, decorating, and carving pumpkins. And candy! Dare we forget the candy? The first Halloween with Alex trick-or-treating was depressing as finding milk-free candy made me feel so bad for him. Every year it's gotten easier and this year even Alex was looking for non-chocolate treats. What a smart kid! I was so proud of him. He asked me if I could take out all the chocolate for him and when he went to a house where all they gave him was chocolate, he'd say, "Aw man! Chocolate!" Of course they both have buckets almost full of safe food even with all the dangers picked out. And Abby, though normally suction cupped to my leg, was a quite the trick-or-treater. She was the first to the door and yelling "Trick-or-Treat!" with the best of them. She was super polite too. Always saying thank you. I'm just so proud of my kids. We went to our church so the kids could play games and get prizes and then came home and went trick-or-treating. Alex was Captain America, Abby was a fairy princess, Josh was Harry Dresden, and I was a pirate. Abby originally got a costume that was a barbie princess but after seeing the girls at Alex's school dressed in tutus and wings, we had a last minute wardrobe change. Too bad I didn't know this before I spent ten bucks on a barbie costume. Oh well. It was so much fun this year. I know it's weird to say I feel blessed on a holiday like Halloween, but I sure felt that way. I hope you all had a great time as well!

Here's my cool pumpkin. I call him Mr. Juggles. I have to pictures. One with the lights on and one with them off for the full effect. The little pumpkins have faces carved into them too but it's hard to see in photos.

My little trick-or-treaters hard at work!

Alex with his buddy Wesley. Captain America and a Firefighter. Cute.

Some people had pretty cool decorations. This one was super fun.

And of course there's me. I loved my costume.
Pants and shirt: Goodwill $5
Arm cuffs, Hair beads, belt, etc: Free from items around the house & a good ol' needle and thread
Hair: Mine (two-hours to braid)
Being a pirate: Priceless

Birthday Pictures...Finally!

Alex with his Mighty Morphin Power Ranger cake. It was super fun to decorate.

Well, I finally have some access to Josh's computer. Of course, it's definitely not a day later. More like a week. But hey...I tried. Anyhow, Alex got to celebrate his birthday more than once. One big party with the family and one party with his classmates at school. Both were equally fun and both involved a good deal of cake decorating from me. Theme for the big party was Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (his choice, not mine...if you were wondering. Not that I was complaining as I'm in total love with the show.) For his class party, he wanted Captain America. So, I'm happy to say that I delivered both to the best of my ability. Both ending in success. I must say that this round of birthday party was really enjoyable. I don't think I've seen him so happy. Especially after the loot he got for gifts. I can sum up the presents in three points: Super heroes, Big boy bike, nerf gun. He's in love with them all! Thanks again to everyone who made Alex's birthday so special. We are truly blessed! Oh...and yes. I have photos this time. Here ya'll go!

The mighty Thor!

Captain America shield cupcakes. Yeah...I know...I'm awesome. :)

Birthday boy with the birthday crown at school. He loves preschool! So many new friends.

Happy Birthday Alex!!

Even though my computer is still mostly dead, I cannot ignore this amazing day. Today my wonderful son turned five years old. Five! Wow! I feel like all the birthday posts are like this. It just always seems so incredible how fast they grow. Alex is turning into this little boy with traits that leave me speechless almost daily. His compassion and caring for others (especially his sister Abby) have shown me just how wonderful of a kid he is and how amazing of a man he will grow to be. His Great-Grandma gave him a card with $20 in it for his birthday party this past Saturday. A couple of weeks before, he'd seen a nifty spy-kit in the toy section of a Dollar General. He asked if he could have it for his birthday and I told him that if he got any birthday money that he could come back to buy it. When he got the money he promptly remembered the spy-kit and asked if we could go so he could buy it with his 'dollar'. So Sunday, we went to the Dollar General. Naturally, Abby wanted a toy as well, but I had to explain to her that it was Alex's birthday money and that I wasn't going to buy her anything that day. She was very upset about this. So Alex walked up to her, without any prompting from me whatsoever, and said, "It's okay Abby. I'll buy it for you with my dollar." I told him he didn't have to do that but he insisted that he wanted to. I was speechless. He's been doing little selfless acts like this more and more often. It was just one of those moments when you say to yourself, "Wow. I'm just so proud of this little one." And I am. Both of my children as so amazing and I am so blessed. Thank you God for my wonderful children. Five years old, and already exceeding my expectations. Alex, I'm so proud of you! Happy Birthday to my little boy! Tomorrow I'll attempt to rip the computer out of Josh's hands in hopes of uploading pictures from my camera as a part 2 to Alex's birthday blog. We had a wonderful birthday party with all the family. It was a blessed day and I thank all of you that came to celebrate with us! Happy Birthday Alex!

Computer Woes

About...oh...I'd say one and a half years back, I decided to treat myself to a brand new, shiny computer. A Laptop to be precise. I believe now that I made two mistakes that I will now share with you so that you do not make the same mistakes in future laptop purchases. Mistake #1: I bought the cheapest laptop that was on sale at Wal-Mart. Mistake #2: I decided not to get the extended warranty. Because I, like many other people, see my purchases as invincible. Why, oh why, would I spend the extra $30 on something as ridiculous as this when it comes with a free one-year warranty? What could possibly happen to my indestructible laptop? Well...let's see. The screen could randomly start dying. And then it could eventually start making sizzling sounds as it goes black until it never pops on again. Then it could leave you with a worthless hunk of junk and no warranty to fix it. Yep. That's exactly what happened! So I'm on Josh's computer now and as he dominates the computer time when he's home, blogging is temporarily a thing of my past. I'll be back as soon as I can either get my laptop fixed or buy a new one. Hmmm...the temporary blogging break may become more permanent than I thought. I'll blog when I can rip Josh's keyboard out of his kung-fu grip. See ya all on the flip-side!

Eat THAT Little Debbie!

Uh-huh. You read that title right. I'm talkin' smack on everyone's favorite snack time friend. Ms. Little Debbie. She's always conjuring up some sugary goodness that's chock full of goodness. And by goodness I really mean, thank goodness I didn't exceed my lifetime sugar levels by devouring the entire box by myself. I'll admit I'm not immune from her devilish plan to create an entire world of diabetics. I walk past that aisle every time I go shopping. My Little Debbie vice? Strawberry Shortcake Rolls. Mmmm...I'm drooling. But! Yes. I said 'but'. When we discovered Alex's milk allergy, I looked at every box of her goodies and noticed milk in all of them. I looked that curly, brown-haired trouble maker square in the eyes and told her to take a hike! That was the end of my 28 year relationship with Little Debbie. So at our local tiny grocery store, what do they have set up on those dingy white shelves right by the checkout? You guessed it. A collection of Ms. Debbie's greatest hits. And some new releases as well. Alex consistently eyeballs those rainbow boxes of treats. This past weekend he looked at the shelves and noticed a new box. In light of the season, there was a new item: Football brownies. Well, you should know that Alex is in love with football. The kid can spout team names, coaches and players pretty darn good for a five year old. He was ecstatic about the brownies and excitedly begged for me to buy them for him. I had to use the dreaded, "Sorry buddy. Those have cow milk in them," phrase. He put them back and gave me the sad pouty face that breaks my heart so often. (Darn you, dairy industry! Why must you make so many tastefully deadly things?) So I knelt down and said, "How about I go home and make you some football brownies?" His frown turned upside down and he was bouncing with joy again. So home I went and whipped up a tasty batch of football brownies. They look almost exactly like the store bought ones and taste a whole lot better (theoretically speaking of course). No preservatives and mine even had chocolate chips in them. Bet you didn't put chocolate chips in yours Ms. Debbie! All in all, the brownies were gone in 24 hours and were a huge hit. Plus, I earned massive 'Awesome Mom' points. Move over Little Debbie....Little Jessie is in town! (Hmmm. That doesn't have quite the catchy ring to it that I'd hoped it would.)

Uh-huh...yeah...that's right! I'm awesome! (Now picture me spiking one of my football brownies on the ground and doing my 'touch down' dance.)

Yummy stuff I tell ya! Just ask my biggest fans!

Twins

Twins run strongly in my family. Not so strongly that there’s a set in every house, but strong enough to be note worthy. My dad’s a twin. I have twin cousins. My brother has two sets of twins. So there you have it. I, on the other hand, do not have twins. I also am not a twin to another human. So you might find it interesting to know that for what it’s worth, I can’t stop being accused of having one. Growing up, me and one of my brothers were mistaken for twins quite frequently. He is less than two years younger than me so it can be understood. Of course, I’m not around him enough to be compared anymore. With two brothers on opposite ends of the country and one who doesn’t even have the same hair color as me, why oh why would I be called a twin? One word. Mandy. For some reason, people keep mistaking us as twins. And what’s funny is that the accusations have become ever increasing as the years go by. They say that married couples live together for so long that they eventually begin to look alike. Mandy and I have been friends since the 5th grade and consistently hang around one another so perhaps this is becoming true of us. There are similarities for which you would have to be blind to miss. Both of us have the same red hair…same length as well these days. We consistently seem to wear the same color combo of clothes…purely unintentionally of course. And we have an uncanny ability to finish each others sentences when talking to other people. And heck...our kids refer to us as Aunts. Come to think of it…it is a bit odd, isn’t it? We’re not related. Seriously…our gene pools could not be more different…on several levels. But as you can easily see the similarities are uncanny.

Same hair color (I'm older-obvious by my white streaks) and same sense of style. Very fashionable. And may I just add, the same genuinely beautiful skin tone and overall beauty.

Same body type. Though you can probably tell that Mandy works out more. (Looser loin cloth.)

Ah, heck. we even have the same pathetically corny and slightly immature sense of humor.

So as you can so obviously see...people can't help but to compare us. What made me make note of such an obscure point? I found it strange that in the span of three hours two weekends back, three total strangers asked us if we were twins. Not just sisters. Twins. It makes me laugh. They are always so amazed to find out that we aren’t even related. Seriously though, we don’t see it. I think from now on we should just go with it and make a game out of it. I’ve always been a fan of witty comebacks. Next time someone asks, I’ll nod and say, “Yup. She got all the looks and I got all the brains.” (Just kidding Mandy...you got the brains too.)

Now you must understand that the hilarity of this situation goes further. One night Mandy said, "That's it! I'm chopping off all of my hair! Then no one can call us twins!" Sooo...fast forward to the Great Sleep over with her kids. She comes waltzing up to my door to pick up the kids with a full-on make over. Ten inches of her hair...gone! Mighty fine hair cut, if I do say so myself. Pierced ears and lookin' pretty doggone snazzy! I, in my run down jeans and holey shirt with hair slopped back in a rough pony-tail and bags under my eyes from watching four little tornadoes for 32 hours, stared back and said, "Twins, no more!" We went out for the first time together not three days later to Wal-Mart to do our shopping. One of the workers looked at us and said, "Are you two sisters?"

Priceless. Guess next time one of us need to just shave our heads. "Not it!"

The First Great Sleepover

I remember my first sleepover. It was a terrifying experience for me and I remember not sleeping a wink in fear that someone might dip my hand in warm water or put shaving cream in my sleeping bag. Granted this sleepover was a slumber party and I barely knew the girls. As I was quite possibly the single most unpopular person in my grade, you can understand how it might be a bit intimidating to subject myself to the mercy of a group of female peers. Scary. Of course, perhaps my first sleepover wasn’t the one I’m thinking. Forgive me if my mind is a little rusty in the youth memory department. In the event I’m wrong, my mom will surely call me promptly with a corrected version of the story. So, here I am, several years older with wee children of my own. A three and almost five year old and I’m already having a sleepover. Of course, they are my niece and nephew via Mandy so perhaps sleepover is the wrong term. Nevertheless, there are children that are not my own hunkering down in my house without their parents. Mandy and her hubby escaped for a 30-hour trip all to themselves. They get to experience the joys of silence, adult themed music and conversation, and eating without food being thrown across the room. I’m beyond thrilled that I can give them that experience. I’m sure they will enjoy their time off for good behavior. So far, the night has been fairly good. Granted, no one went to sleep easily and poor miss Greta went to sleep begging nonstop for juice. (Don’t ask.) Wesley kept referring to me as ‘Aunt Mandy’. I’m fairly certain he was delirious from exhaustion, as he didn’t go to sleep until 9:30. Tomorrow it’s a bright and early morning of chocolate chip pancakes and preschool. So here’s hoping the rest of the night goes smoothly. I can only hope that Wesley and Greta don’t go home permanently scarred from their four-kids-in-one-room-at-night experience. All in all…it’s been fun. On to the morning.

*Ugh...on an updated side note...It is 6:04 in the morning and I'm awake with two of the kids. The ladies decided to early rise. I'm not built for pre-sunrise...