Summary

Well, it has been a while and this is a summary of what we have been up to...

Joel has been busy working his crazy schedule and is finishing up school. He recently shaved his head bald...it was a Halloween costume idea that went horribly, horribly wrong....I don't have an exact picture but I tried to find one that represented him the best I could...

Doesn't really do him justice. (Yes, Joel this is what you get for shaving off your hair--and you had hair--some people are not as lucky as you were). He doesn't know I am writing this...he is in the living room watching my taped episode of the Hills. Anyways...

I am staying busy volunteering at Jenna's school, trying to potty train and "manage" Drew, and changing and occasional diaper and fixing a bottle or two for this little man...

This explains how easy going of a kid he is...he falls asleep in my Mom's Johnny Jumper...what a sweetheart.

Jenna is great as usual. We are excited to go to High School Musical on ice on Friday night with Grandma Netter. This has become a little tradition and we have a really good time.

Like I mentioned before Drew is starting to use the toilet. He also sleeps in his own big bed and room now--although he still needs a bottle and binki. Who cares if you do things in order right? We pick our battles one at a time. Last night he was caught red-handed using a ball point pen to color Joel's big screen T.V. That was an ordeal. Like I said, we are trying to "manage" this little boy who is extremely cute and intelligent.

Lastly, is Ethan...the picture above says it all and really I am too tired to write anything else--

This is a BIG deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Drew went number 2 on the toilet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is the first time he has ever done anything on the potty...






more to post later....

I want candy!!!

Well, another Halloween has come and gone. This year was another success. Mounds and mounds of candy was collected and passed out. Hundreds and hundreds of extra calories consumed. And the possibility of cavities has increased. What a sweet success! Here are some highlights of the night. First I started out the day taking Ethan to the doctor to get some shots...I know...not very nice on Halloween, but it's not Christmas people. Next, I was the only mom (besides the moms that were running the party) to attend Jenna's kindergarten Halloween party. I thought more mom's or dad's would have showed...oh well, I had fun. Plus it gave me a chance to get some ideas for the Valentines party that I am in charge of. Next I stopped by my good friend Marianne's house to say "hi". Then I went home to see what was going on and I found my husband had shaved his hair off(yes, he did have hair before the "incident").........more to come in another post. We then ran down to my Mom's house to trick-or-treat. Next we flew back home where we had our annual Halloween gathering with my sister-in-laws, family, and friends. We ate pizza, talked, and most importantly....made our way around the block to trick-or-treat.

Here is Jenna with her "vampire" pumpkin she helped design and carve. We had a fun night carving pumpkins and watching Charlie Brown's Halloween special on Wedensday.

This is Jenna's kindergarten class...Mrs. McNeice is the bee...what a cool teacher.The kids on their way to Grandma Netter's. Trick-or-Treat! Drew loved trick-or-treating...he would walk as fast as his little legs would go and he looked so funny in his "fat" dragon suit. I joked that he ate so much candy that I would take the costume off and he would really be that big...he ate so much candy he puked before bed...whoops.Presenting Cleopatra or as Jenna says, "An Egyptian princess!" Jenna was the only kindergartner with make-up on too...I can see how those pageant moms can get out of hand. It was fun for one day!

Here is the gang...it was funny because when we started taking these kids trick-or-treating together four years ago we would only make it to a couple of houses and they would be exhausted and cold. Now we were the ones exhausted trying to keep up...they really have perfected the art of trick-or-treating!Joel and Ethan."Mom, why do you make me wear this weird looking hat!?"My camera was soooo fuzzy, darn it! After the night was over Drew kept pushing me toward our front door, his pumpkin pail in hand, saying "Walk, walk." He wanted to go out again he loved it so much.Happy Ethan with his little pumpkin. Aunt Holly and I agreed that he would make a good Charlie Brown for Halloween with that round head of his.

A very tired 6 month old...yes, he fell asleep as the clock struck 8.A very happy almost two-year old. "Candy, candy peeeess!"----NO MORE CANDY!!!!

Not you too Nick Jr.--

So this morning while I was filling the last bowl of Cheerios at breakfast and the kids were watching Go Diego Go on Nick, Jr. (by the way--one of the only networks that you can go pretty much all day with out seeing a political ad) I was surprised to see this face....Apparently he won the Presidential "Nickelodeon" Race. It is great to know that 5 and 2 year olds can make very important and informed decisions, right? Congrats President Barak Obama. I just hope he doesn't choose Mickey or Rooney from the Doodlebops to be part of his cabinet. But that is okay...he can be the President of Nick Jr. just as long he is not the President of this...
This is the Presidential Race that I am most concerned with......................so come on and vote on November 4th (educated and responsibly please).

Happy Belated

Joel is officially 30 years young. We had a great birthday day on the 17th which consisted of shooting guns, breakfast with the kids at our favorite Old European, P.F. Chizzie Changs (as we like to call it), going to two movies--count them--two! movies!, and a stress-free, kid-free night. I wish he was turning 30 everyday (except we would probably go shopping instead of shooting guns-a little scary for me). We finished up the weekend with an Azteca platter, game night with friends, and cake. Happy birthday honey!

Literally...

This week has been a week of "literallies" and no I don't think that is a word.

First, I took the kids to McDonalds one night where Jenna got another toy to add to our gazillions of McDonald toys. It is a small barbie doll. She looks at me and goes, "You think she is hot?"

I am like...where did you hear the word "hot"? I mean I am sure I have used it around her but it sounds just soooo grown up coming out of the mouth of a five year old. So I asked her, "What do you think hot means?"

She replies, "It means you love her."

I reply, "Yes, Jenna. She is smokin' hot!"

Jenna then puts her barbie to her nose and sniffs her........................................so literal.

I guess you could also say I had quite literally a "crappy" week. I mean the week went okay. We just had a lot of pooh issues. My friend and I were talking and she told me how her daughter went number two in the bath tub. I said, "Oh, thank goodness that has never happened to me." Well, it has now. So I took Jenna and Drew out of the polluted bath tub and ran them to the shower. Not even minutes later I hear Jenna screaming. Drew did it again...in the shower no less. Then the next day I put him in his crib to take a nap. Unfortunately I couldn't find a binki anywhere. So I thought all the crying was because of his missing "security binki." Wrong!...he really took off his diaper for the first time ever--pants as well and smeared pooh everywhere. Just like a monkey. So it was a "crappy" week.....................................................literally.

I need a vacation...............................literally.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

FALL! I absolutely love this time of the year. One might say that this is even my most favorite time of the year. Here is my reasoning in no apparent order...

10. The air is crisp and clean...I love the feel of fall in the air.

9. We fall back an hour in the fall...meaning once a year I get to sleep for one EXTRA hour--all you Mom's out there know what I am talking about.

8. The fall colors are goregous. Besides orange is one of my very favorite colors which would explain my pumpkin colored backpack in high school--which I used all the way through college--and Joel made fun of it :(

7.HALLoWEEn!!!! What a fun holiday to dress up and be whatever your heart desires. This year I will be a mother to a pumpkin, bear, and Cleopatra the "Egyptian Princess" as Jenna would say...I am going to be a Mummy (I might even wrap myself in Charmin????) Joel wants to be the Incredibles family but I told him that NO one needs to see us in spandex. That would be horrifying.

6. Candy. For one night a year you can eat all you want and really not feel that guilty about--well at least until the morning.

5. This is a new one to my list this year but...Kids going back to school. I love it and Jenna loves it. Kindergarten is awesome. Besides if you time naps just right--you might find yourself with an hour or so of free time to do whatever your heart desires while the kids are away.

4. Baseball playoffs...need I say more...love it!

3. Soup!!! Nothing is better than eating soup on a chilly day. In my family it was a tradition to eat corn bread and homemade clam chowder on Halloween night. I have tried but Jenna thinks she is allergic meaning "she hates it." I guess we will stick to Campbell's chicken noodle for a while.

2. Sweaters! They are my favorite and really forgiving--you know--for mom's who are still trying to get off that 20 lbs. or so off after having two babies back-to-back.

1. Greenbluff!!! I love this little part of the place we live. It is a little farming community that has a Harvest Festival every year. You can get the best apple pie, cider, carmel apples, cute pumpkins, go on hay rides, and just love this most wonderful time of the year!

Here are some recent pictures of us at Greenbluff (we already went!!!) I love this picture of Drew.

He just did this pose naturally. Silly.

Jenna and a scarecrow.Dad and the E-man.I love this picture of Ethan...he is my little buddy.
Me and the little man. Don't mind the spit up all over the E-man...he has reflux :(The kids trying to find the perfect pumpkin!And my most favorite part of the FALL is having three amazing kids to share this season with!