Teddy Bear Picnic

I just love the cute things that Jayda gets to do in preschool. Last week her class had a Teddy Bear picnic where she got to choose her favorite Teddy Bear (Skyler's of course), and pack a lunch full of foods starting with B. This was the conversation we had about her lunch...

Me: You're going to be taking b-b-bologna, on b-b-bread, with a b-b-banana, and a b-b-brownie.

Jayda: And can you pack a c-c-cookie too!

Up to something...

So after a quiet couple of minutes coloring in the kitchen, Jayda comes wondering out with a very suspicious look on her face.



"Mommy, I'm only supposed to color on my paper right?..."


"Why, what did you do?"





It's so hard to get mad at her sometimes!

Pictures and words

Skyler has taken to putting a blanket over his head and walking around until running into a wall. When he does, there is laughter all around, mostly from him. Boys are fun.

Ah, so cute! I love it when she lets me do her hair. I just wish she would keep it. This was undone about five minutes later.

This picture makes me laugh. He cut his finger on a can and needed a bandaid. That bandaid was pretty much the star of the show as he took every opportunity to show it off. By the end of the night we had him sticking his finger in the air yelling what sounded like "number one!"

Jayda's first game! We got her Candy Land after deciding that she was old enough to play games. She loves it and probably requests it a little more then her parents would like to play it! But, it is fun to play with her and brings back a lot of childhood memories.

Insomiac!

This is one of those nights that sleep has managed to escape, and so to entertain myself, I thought I'd do Stacey's tag. Thanks Stace! There is a very good chance that I have done several tags like this already, but since it is past midnight, I do not hold myself responsible for this post, or the contents therein.

8 Favorite TV Shows
(1) Arrested Development
(2) Private Practice
(3) Americas Next Top Model
(4) Grey's Anatomy
(5) House
(6) CSI
(7) Chuck
(8) Scrubs

8 Favorite Movies
(1) Garden State
(2) What's Eating Gilbert Grape
(3) Atonement
(3) Chocolat
(4) In the Land of Women
(5) Dan in Real Life
(6) Hairspray
(7) Rent
(8) Family Stone

8 Quirks About You
(1) I'm pretty much dysfunctional before I shower. I don't even like to make breakfast or make my bed until I've showered. I've tried going to the gym in the morning before showering, but I can't handle that either, now I just shower twice a day, I know...
(2) I'm not a neat freak, but I'll tear my house apart if I think it smells bad. I hate nasty smells and I am constantly stocking up on wallflowers, sprays, candles and powders to keep my house smelling good. It's not always easy when you're dealing with diapers and kids that pee their pants!
(3) I am a fiend for comfort. I rarely wear "normal" clothes at home. Usually the first thing I do when I walk in my door at any time of the day is put my comfy flannel cloud pants on, yeah, you know the ones, you've all seen them! I LOVE LOVE LOVE big soft blankets, soft fluffy pillows and fat warm socks, it's probably one of the reasons I don't mind winter as much.
(4) For some weird reason that I can't even explain, I don't like to take pain killers, it drives Glenn crazy. Not even a simple motrin for a headache. I don't know why, I just hate the idea of taking it, but I usually do when it gets really bad, or when Glenn makes me.
(5) I love to read books, and I absolutely hate to start a book without finishing it, no matter how much I'm hating it. If i hate a book that much I'll usually stop reading for a while, but I can't start a new book, because it would be like cheating on the one I started but can't finish. Normally I'll force myself to finish, or I'll wait long enough until I've "forgotten" about the book I don't like!
6) I am also addicted to cookbooks. There is nothing more exciting to me then a really good cookbook. I will read it like a novel, and then read it a again. My favorites I practically have memorized.
(7) I'm kind of superstitious (always knocking on wood), and I'm a VERY strong believer in Karma.
(8) I will eat most anything (when I'm not dieting), but I refuse to drink anything when it has any amount of sugar or fat in it, unless that fattening, sugary, beverage is considered to be my treat, and not accompanying my food. I think Diet Coke is healthier for me than fruit juice, and I don't care about what the doctor says!

8 Things I Did Yesterday
(1) Drove Jayda to preschool
(2) Went to the gym, great workout too!
(3) Picked Jayda up from preschool
(4) Took a powernap
(5) Scrubbed down my bathrooms, yikes!
(6) Made a lowfat lasagna
(7) Went to Michaels and drooled
(8) Went to Barnes and Nobles and drooled (and bought Taste of Home's 2008 Christmas Edition!!! Let the recipe obsession begin!)

8 Things I look Forward To
(1) Spending time with Keisha, my sister-in-law for Thanksgiving
(2) Seeing Glenn complete his first semester in dental school
(3) Visiting family and friends for our highly anticipated two weeks in ID this Christmas!
(4) Reaching my ideal weight (It's going to happen!)
(5) Seeing more of the east coast (NY, DC, Jersey etc)
(6) This Summer (especially with the pool!)--I second that Stacey!
(7) Watching my kids grow, change and discover (not too fast though)
(8) Learning to play the guitar someday (probably in the far future, but definitely on my list)

8 Favorite Restaurants
(1) Qdoba
(2) Grecian Key
(3) Sato's (a sushi place in ID)
(4) Cheesecake Factory
(5) El Herraderro (in Poky)
(6) Johnny Carino's
(7) Red Hot Roasters
(8) The Orzo ('member that place mom!)

8 Things On My Wish List
(1) An Alaskan cruise with Glenn
(2) A robot that cleans (I'd feel to guilty, and probably a little embarrassed if an actual person were subjected to that!)
(3) That my family lived closer
(4) A peaceful plane ride to ID!
(5) For Glenn to do great on his finals
(6) A White Christmas
(7) To drop at least one size by Christmas
(8) For Grey's Anatomy to quit being a soap opera and get Izzie off the show!

Meet Chelsea

This is Chelsea, she was born in Jayda's head about a week ago. Yes, my daughter has an imaginary friend, and a pretty regular one at that. I haven't gotten down the particulars of Chelsea, but I'm pretty sure she is three, and seems like a lot of fun. Every once and a while they argue, and unfortunately for Chelsea, I think Jayda usually wins, but for the most part they're good friends and get along just great!

Ah, to be a kid again.

The Leaves are Falling Down...

I'm in denial of the fact that winter is quickly approaching and soon it will be too cold to enjoy these gorgeous fall days. So, in hopes that this will delay the inevitable, here are some pics of the kids enjoying a beautiful fall day at my favorite park.

Jayda's first portrait!

Jayda just got this easel from her Grandma J not too long ago, which has turned out to be an absolute haven of young creativity. She loves to draw, but up until recently her drawings have been little more then random scribbles. So imagine my surprise when she called to me that she had just drawn her daddy! Look at that picture, not bad for her first one. It slightly resembles Beavis from, well, you know, and I'm not quite sure what the vertical eyebrows are all about, but I LOVED it. Since then she has learned to draw in hair, chins, ears and other facial features, I'm quite proud of her, especially since I am pretty much the opposite of artistic!

I know you can't see her drawing in this picture, but I loved her little pose.

Churchin' it up

I don't know what that face is...

It's really hard to get a picture of my kids smiling at the camera at one, so these were the best I could get while they were looking particularly cute right before church. You'll notice in the one of the three of us, Skyler's not having it anymore!

Monkey see...

Now that Skyler has become older, my kids are real pals. Jayda loves having a buddy to be goofy with, and Skyler simply worships the ground Jayda walks on. In fact, I have to console him everytime she goes to preschool, and he loves to imitate her. Even with as much as they pick on each other, they have a very sweet relationship. This is a picture of the two of them in time out. I sent Jayda to time out for pushing Skyler for the 100th time, and Skyler still found it in his heart to join her. If I was quick enough, I could have gotten this with them both facing the wall. I don't know if me getting such a kick out of this makes me a very good disciplinarian, but at least we're all smiling!

The Finished Product

I never posted the end result of our pumpkin decorating shenanigans, so here they are! Sometimes when it's late I'll look at this picture and laugh for hours at those tiny eyeballs and the puffball unibrow, and then I cry a bit, it's a vicious cycle!

The Final Event...

The actual night of Halloween! We had a lot of fun, and I may have gotten more of a sugar fix then my own kids!

We started with a dinner with our friends and family, which was so creative and fun, thanks Ben and Jordan! Afterward we went out trick-or-treating in a great neighborhood that was really into Halloween and giving out good candy! I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but it was pretty short lived anyway. Jayda lasted about one street, and decided she was finished, I don't think she quite grasped the concept of the delayed gratification of trick-or-treating! We stopped in for some good company with a family in the neighborhood and then headed home to get the kids in bed! Glenn and I then turned into five year old crazy candy mongers and binged on sweets until we ached, good times.



Now that Halloween is over, I'm ready for the Holidays!! Time to start baking!




As a side story, you'll notice that Skyler does not have his costume on. That's because the minute we put it on, he acted as though his skin was covered in boils and tore the costume off as quick as possible. He really hates it! So I put him in red sweats and called him a basketball player. Lol, you can't win them all!

Preschool Halloween Party

Okay, I promise that I'm almost done with the Halloween posts!

Jayda had her preschool Halloween party last Thursday, which was her first preschool party, and my first opportunity as a mom helping at a preschool party! We both had a lot of fun. Jayda got to do things like make masks, decorate cookies, sing songs and listen to silly Halloween stories. At the end the kids came out prepared with two fun songs for the parents. It was really cute, and the kids looked great in their costumes, as you can see! Thanks Miss Jamie and Miss Annette for the great party!

October Girl's Night

A bunch of the girls here in the area have a girl's night once a month that everyone takes a turn hosting. This month Stefanie Cross and I hosted at my place, which was fun with the Halloween theme and everything. We kept it pretty simple, with costumes and mingling. Later in the evening we had a mummy wrap and took some pictures.

Me being completely oblivious to all things sports related, had no clue that the Phillies were playing in the World Series that night (I know, for shame!), but we knew they won because we could hear people hollering outside of our apartment later that night! Victory for Philly!


You can't see Lizzette's sign is this picture, but it says "nudist on strike." I thought it was hilarious!

This was the one occasion that I had the energy to dress up. It was pretty fun though.

Natalie and Caralee were great sports to be the mummies!

I had this taken a little too late, and it's missing about half of the girls that came. Sorry guys!

Keeping the Tradition Alive

I really love family traditions, and my family has quite a few of them, especially around the holidays. During Halloween, my family has always done a fun party, including lots of food, carving pumpkins, decorating cookies, and enjoying each other's company. I've been a little sad knowing that we're going to be missing out on that for a while, but that didn't mean we couldn't have some fun on our own!

So I planned our own little Green Halloween Party. It turned out to be so much fun. Obviously, with our kids being young, we kept it pretty simple, but now we have our own tradition to keep up year to year!

We started with our "Dinner in a Pumpkin," something my mom made us every year. It's basically a hamburger and rice casserole cooked in a pumpkin, but it's really good and the kids think it's so cool.

We didn't carve pumpkins this time, we decided to just decorate the pumpkins we got on our trip to Freddy Hills. This was probably my favorite part of the night. I forgot to take pictures of our finished pumpkins, but I was amazed at how creative Jayda was with her pumpkin. She glued on the tiniest, most microscopic eyes, with a puffball unibrow inbetween them. We got a good laugh, I'll get pics of the pumpkins up later.

Then we decorated cookies. Jayda had a fun time doing that as well, Skyler actually did a pretty good job smearing frosting on his cookie too. Of course, most of it went in his mouth! We also discovered Jayda's love for sprinkles, which we caught her licking off the table! Oh well, it's Halloween right!

At the end of the night, we put our jammies on and watched a Garfield Halloween Special. I'd say overall, it was a great kickoff to a new tradition.

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