Shoveling Snow

The snow had been piling up and I really needed to attempt to get our walkway and driveway clear of snow before the next dump tomorrow. Bob is out of town, so this job falls to me.

I figured that this would be a fun way for the kids to play outside and me to get some snow shoveling done.

Logan wanted nothing to do with it. He still doesn't like the snow very much. I hope that I can get him to warm up to it as winter progresses. He eventually just went down for a nap so Alexis and I stayed outside.

Alexis LOVES the snow. I had bought her a red plastic shovel and she was hard at work shoveling snow for me. She was flinging it everywhere.

Then she told me that she wanted to make a snowman. I have to admit, being from San Diego has it's disadvantages sometimes. I've never made a snowman. I just started dumping snow from the driveway into a huge pile and Alexis would pat it down. I was attempting to make the bottom ball, but it looks more like a snow blob than anything else. Maybe a snow butte.

Eventually Alexis got cold so we went inside and she is now cuddled up under a blanket watching "Tinkerbell" for the umpteenth time while her boots dry in front of the fireplace.

What an excellent way to spend the day.

Meaningful Names

My sis-in-law, Mandee, posted a blog about a cute website that she found that has tons of baby names. It's called "What a Lovely Name" and it is a lot of fun. I especially like how they show names all decorated for use on scrapbooks or blogs. They offer all kinds of ways to change the backgrounds and colors too. Very cool.

I have no intention of having any more children, but I was interested to see what it said about our names meanings. I am a firm believer that you grow into your name.

Bob : Meaning "bright with fame". Shortening of the name Robert. Can also be given as an independent name.
Tags: American, friendly, intelligent, strong

Deborah: Deborah is a Biblical prophetess and judge who was instrumental in the victory over the Canaanites. She was also Rebekah's nurse. In Hebrew Deborah means "a bee." Nicknames for Deborah include Debbie and Deb.
Tags: athletic, funny, Hebrew, strong

Katya (I had to go with a combination since they did not have hers): Katyayani. This sis a name of the goddess Parvati.
Tags: beautiful, funny, Hindu, leader
Katherine. This name is derived from the Greek root "katharos," meaning "pure, unsullied." Tags: English, intelligent, strong, wise

Alexis: Originates from the Greek word Alexein, meaning: "to defend, to help." Tags: American, brave, fun, strong

Logan: Meaning "dweller at the little hollow". Taken from the Irish surname, a diminuitive form of the Gaelic word "lag," meaning "hollow".
Tags: American, calm, happy, independent

So according to our names, Bob will be famous. He already is in his business circle for being an extremely talented and hardworking engineer.

I am a strong woman who can conquer injustice in the world. Man, how I wish I could. However, I am a major rule follower. My view on what is right and wrong is pretty clear cut. I am a hard worker and I would like to think I am strong.

Katya will continue to become a woman who is strong, wise, a leader, and funny. She already is all those things now. I hope they are qualities that she nurtures as she continues into adulthood.

Alexis will become a helper to the world, brave, fun and strong. All excellent traits to have.

Now for Logan. He is going to be my happy, mellow, independent little dude who likes hanging out in his house. Not too shabby. Happiness is a wonderful personality trait to have.

Art Show

Katya has been in art all semester and been having a good time with it.

There is an artistic gene that runs through Katya from both sides. Her Great-Great Grandfather on her father's side is Leon Trousset. Evidently he has some pieces in museums around the world. On my side, my Great Grandmother was an artist herself and my cousin, Becky, is an amazing artist as well. I fancied myself an artist until I just didn't have time for it anymore.

Katya refused to touch art supplies and resented art projects until Kindergarten. Then one day she surprised her teacher by asking to do some painting. It was a beautiful picture of a flower with a sun and rainbow. She has just been my little Van Gogh ever since. But usually she reserves her artistic talents for drawing what she hopes will be her future fashion line.

Last Thursday, her high school had a really cool art show with live music performed by some guitar students. It was a display of art projects that the kids have worked on all semester. Some of those students are just amazing. I love seeing what some kids have inside of themselves that they express through art.

Katya had four pieces of art on display and I loved all of them, since they were all so different. But I admit, her scratch art piece was the most striking of all. I can't wait to see what else she comes up with.

Don't See It

I love my hubby.

Even after two babies, weight that just won't leave, age creeping up on me... he still thinks I'm hot. Really hot. Even if he doesn't mean it, he says it - which counts for EVERYTHING in my book.

The latest compliment that I have gotten from him is that he seriously thinks that I look like TinkerBell. Whenever we watch the "TinkerBell" movie, he reminds me how much he thinks I look like her.

Totally not true, but I love him for thinking I look like a cute little fairy.

Decorating The Tree

Tonight I decided that I was tired of looking at our poor ornament-free Christmas tree. I had a rough day trying to juggle the kids and a whole lot of pressure to get stuff done at work. I am mentally tired and since it is "kid time" again, I figured I'd do something they would like.

I had already put on the lights (Katya revolted this year) and I figured that I would just put some of the big bulbs on it, wrap the tree skirt and put some of the wrapped gifts under it to make it a bit more festive.

Katya is in Aloha tonight for a basketball tournament (yes, Aloha, OR) so I can't put all the personal ornaments on it, just the base coat.

Well, I turned on the Christmas music to get in the mood and immediately I heard "No singing, Mommy!". I wanted to sing along to my favorite songs and instead of Alexis trying to join along, she just didn't want me singing at all. I sang louder and she yelled louder. What a puke. She was putting a wet blanket on my festive mood.

I ignored her and still sang (although quieter) while I decorated the tree. Then I figured that I would put the angel on the tree.

NO WAY

It made Alexis burst into tears to see the angel sitting on top of the tree. She even went so far as to cover her eyes because she couldn't bear to see her up there. ???? What was all that about?

I guess I get to go buy a star.

I have never had so much backseat commentary when decorating the tree before. Sheesh

When she is old enough, she is doing it all by herself. Lights and all.

Where is the Snow?

Where is the snow? It was, like, 60 degrees today!

I was wrapping lights on my tree today in short sleeves and with the doors open. What the heck?

Christmas is supposed to be cold. We are supposed to have snow covering the ground. People are supposed to be grumbling about having to shovel snow off of their driveways. Winter boots and jackets should be worn by all. Fires in fireplaces should be commonplace. Hot chocolate and tea should be a desired drink in the afternoon. Not iced tea because we're hot.

Mt. Bachelor doesn't have any snow to ski on.

What is going on!! My nephews are coming up here for a white Christmas, playing in the snow, tubing... I've got nothing to offer them! They will be so disappointed.

If you know of a good snow dance, please let me know, I'm up for trying anything at this point.

Twilight

Ok, Katya and I were totally belated in our viewing of the hit "Twilight". But with good reason.

The director of "Twilight", Catherine Hardwicke, has family that lives here in Central Oregon and decided to do a screening and a Q & A afterwards. I found out from a fellow Bend blogger and immediately called the Sisters Movie House and bought Katya and I some tickets.

There was a 2-hour talk with the director where I guess she talked about where the movie was shot, how she did certain shots, technical details...etc. But that was by invitation only through the Film Oregon Alliance (I think I got that right). We didn't score any invites to that.

The talk was from 3-5pm and it said that the movie would show afterwards. So I figured (without double checking anything, dork that I am) it would start around 5:30 or 6:00pm. At 3pm Katya and I headed to Sisters and pulled up to the Sisters Movie house to grab the tickets and get the true time - 7:30pm. We were a bit early.

Not a big deal! We found a bookstore, bought some good books, went to the Sisters Coffee House and had some warm drinks and read for a couple of hours. It was so nice!

We went out to find a place to have dinner but were disappointed to learn that we couldn't get seating anywhere because of a football game called the "Civil War". It is between the Oregon Ducks and the Oregon Beavers (University of Oregon and Oregon State) and it is a big deal. Some day I'll blog about the whole Duck/Beaver phenomenon that we have here, but not today.

Luckily the Sisters Movie House has warm food and we had ourselves a couple of very yummy cheeseburgers while we waited for the film.

The movie itself was really good! I was surprised somewhat because the book is always better than the movie. But I was seriously disappointed by Jacob not making more of an impact on-screen. But you do what you can when trying to film a movie. Things get cut out. But some of the sceens in the movie were amazing. Like the standing in the tree over the Columbia River Gorge. WOW

The Q&A afterwards was very interesting. I never really gave much thought to what a director of a movie did, so I learned a lot. I hope that she comes back after filming the sequel. I'd love to do this again!

Holiday Photo Shoot

It is that time of year again to get holiday portraits done of the kids for Christmas gifts for the family. Sears is always a good bet for us since it is affordable and they work so hard to try and get good pictures.

This photo shoot was just as painful as previous ones since Alexis has again decided that getting her picture taken is just about the worst thing in the world. I had to opt out of a group shot of the three of them together and instead I ordered some collages.
Logan was awesome! He loved the props, smiling for the camera and being the center of attention. The only problem with him was that he was so busy running in circles, jumping, rolling on the floor....etc that we had a hard time getting a picture of him standing still.

Katya of course took amazing pictures. She is so beautiful inside and out. I had the hardest time picking which pictures of her to buy.

Since getting a picture of the three of them was going to be impossible, I settled for a picture of Katya with her little brother. This is so cute!

Grading Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for me was a day of non-stop cooking in the kitchen. My day started at 8 am and I finished cooking / serving around 6pm.

All in all the food turned out pretty good, but I now know why we normally ate at 1pm. Then you feel that all of your cooking efforts were worth more when it turns out to be an all day eating feast instead of a fancy dinner. Plus, you actually have time to sit and visit with all of your friends and family that came over to share it with you. If I ever have to do a full T-Day dinner by myself again, I'm taking shortcuts. Like buying mashed potatoes from COSTCO.

Our menu was:

Turkey (cooked in a bag): Everyone liked it, but I still though it was a bit dry. Not sure all the trouble of brining it was worth the effort.

Sausage, Cranberry, Apple Stuffing: I really liked it. I did use "stuffing" bread from the bakery downtown which I think made a difference.

Make Ahead Gravy : A+ all around. I made it the night before using turkey wings and it was marvelous!

Mashed Potatoes : Next year I'm going with the COSTCO ones. Not worth all the time with peeling and boiling.

Cran-Raspberry Sauce: Always wonderful and quick to make

Sweet Potatoes: I tried a fancy recipe where you whip them with vanilla and cinnamon. Nah, next year I will remain a purist. Boiled, sliced, topped with brown sugar and butter and baked. THAT is my favorite. Easier too.

Carrots w/ Bacon: Yummy, but too much orange food overall. Next year I will just try something simple like steaming green beans and have them with Hollandaise

Caesar Salad: Ed brought this over. Quite yummy

Fresh Fruit: Bob's mom brought a big fruit salad and Logan ate most of it.

Rolls : From the Great Harvest bakery downtown. Wonderful as usual.

Pumpkin Pies: A tradition and yummy. Katya was bummed I didn't get them baked and cool enough for breakfast. She had to have some for lunch instead.

Apple Pie: Not a big mover. A great pie, but too ordinary. Next year I will cook a marionberry for sure.

I was totally wiped out last night. We only had our family, Bob's mom, Bob's sister, Diane and our friend Ed (his wife was sick and couldn't come). So, it was the smallest Thanksgiving dinner I think I have ever had. But it was lovely and everyone seemed to enjoy the food. I did miss the crazy chaos that usually surrounds holidays with my huge family.

Our turkey was organic, and I learned the hard way that those birds don't have a lot of dark meat on them. Quite a bummer for me, but good to know for the future.

I hope that everyone had a lovely Turkey Day no matter what you did. To those that joined me for dinner, thank you for coming and sharing the day with us. To all my family in San Diego - I missed you terribly.

Kaput

That is what my car did right after we pulled into the garage last night.

It went ka-put.

I thought I would just put the babies in the house with Katya so I could run to the store to get some stuff for T-Day. But when I got back in it I turned the key and the engine sputtered and died. I tried valiently to get it to turn over, but it wouldn't. I am so thankful that it waited until we were in the garage though and not somewhere in the dark on a side road.

I am so BUMMED!

I hate it when my car doesn't work. I just feel so trapped when I don't have wheels! I am a huge maintenance girl because I always want to avoid situations just like this.

I had to miss going into work this morning because of the whole lack of wheels thing. At 8 o'clock I will call a tow truck to haul my beauty to the repair shop. I hope it is just a fuel pump or something relatively quick, easy - and cheap - to fix.

Bob and I are going to attempt to do a bit of carpooling today so I can still go into work for a while. But we'll see.

Christmas on the Brain

I know that Thanksgiving isn't until Thursday, but I can't help thinking about Christmas!

There is so much family that is coming up here for the holidays and I really would love for them all to have a wonderful time while they are here. I'm trying to make sure that I do what I can to make sure everyone feels loved, busy and full.

In preparation we bought a new futon mattress for the "Lounge". An 8" innerspring one, it feels awesome! We are keeping the old one for one of the boys to sleep on while they are here. I only need another twin mattress and we will be all set for sleeping arrangements for my brother and his family. I will be putting them in the Lounge and I am sure they will be most comfy with the TV, DVD player, puzzles, crayons and other craft supplies and desk space. Then there is the "Art Room" that is clean and ready for occupation. It has the foos ball game thing in there as well as lots of floor space for my spunky nephews to utilize with their gifts. After all, everyone needs their space to run to when they have had enough visiting.

I have been giving the menu planning a lot of thought and I am planning on lots of crock pot meals since I will be insanely busy. But it all has to be yummy.

Then there are activities. I will have to work two full days while they are here, but I figured that they could go tubing at Mt. Bachelor one day and I am open for suggestions for the other day. One day we will stay home and bake and decorate sugar cookies. We will have to find some snow to play in at least one day, maybe two. Then there is the High Desert Museum with their bug exhibit. What little boy doesn't like bugs? One day we could hit the Family Fun Center and maybe Bouncing Off the Walls. Anyone else have some ideas? I'm thinking just one outing a day to keep people from becoming fried and to keep costs down.

I put up my Christmas lights on the house today. Tomorrow I'll pull out our little light up deer. I just love twinkle lights! After Thanksgiving we're going to the forest to cut down our tree and get it all decorated. Now all I need is snow and lots of it. Keep your fingers crossed that they get a white Christmas.

Harlem Ambassadors

Last Saturday night was the big basketball game with the Harlem Ambassadors. This was a charity event to help Campfire raise much needed funds in this economic downturn.

I had first heard that we were getting the Harlem Globetrotters. Then I heard it was the Harlem Globetrotter Ambassadors. The truth was they are just the Harlem Ambassadors. And although they were not the famous basketball team I was expecting, they were excellent and entertaining nonetheless. I know that we had a good time and I think that the people that went to the game had a good time too.

Katya was a referee and I think that she did an excellent job. She was a little freaked to make a call on them in the first half of the game, but she warmed up and was all over the place the second half. They even had a bit of fun with her which was fun to see. I got some video of her dancing with the other ref, so check that out on You Tube.

The babies couldn't have cared less about the basketball game, but they were kept entertained by Bob, Ginger, Danae, Debbie K (with her mentor child), Ed and Barbara.

Afterwards Katya and I headed over to join the team and the other Board members for a spaghetti feast at someone's house. It was excellent and we even had a chance to talk to a couple of the players. I love it when opportunities arise in our lives to be a part of fun stuff.

Recipe Thursday

Today I bring you a quick, slap together with stuff you probably already have in your fridge/cupboard, takes less than an hour to make from beginning to end, but tastes totally awesome and was a COMPLETE hit in my house recipe.

If you are coming to visit this Christmas, you will be eating this for dinner some night.

Easy Mexican Casserole

1 pound ground turkey
2 cups salsa
1 (16 oz) can black beans
1 (16 oz) can corn
2 -3 cups torn up corn tortillas or 2 cups of crushed tortilla chips
2 cups sour cream
1 (2 oz) can of sliced black olives, drained
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground turkey until no longer pink. Stir in salsa, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in beans and corn; heat through.

3, Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 torn up corn tortillas (or 1/2 chips) in dish. Spoon 1/2 meat mixure over tortillas. Spread 1/2 sour cream over beef (and follow with olives and onions if you want) and 1/2 tomatoes. Top with 1/2 cheese. Repeat another layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Fabulous! Everyone in my house was fighting over the leftovers. That is when you KNOW it is good.

And if you want to make it a smidge more healthy, use light sour cream and stick with the corn tortillas. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up remarkably soon and my family is all going to San Diego for the dinner of all dinners.

That leaves me here in Bend with the few family members that Bob has that are staying in town. I guess I'm doing the cooking.

I am used to doing the pies, the cranberry sauce, jello salad and veggie. I've never done the whole thing before. With one oven.

All Recipes.com has been an awesome find for me and I am cruising for yummy recipes that I can make for turkey day. I plan on doing:
* a turkey in a bag (that is the only way I know how to do it)
* try some "Make Ahead Gravy"
* cranberry sausage stuffing (not cooked in the turkey for once)
* mashed potatoes
* candied sweet potatoes (for me)
* some kind of veggie
* pumpkin pie & apple pie

How I'll do all this, I have no idea. However, if you are a seasoned T-Day cook I could sure use some advice on how to pull this off. Also, if you have any amazingly fabulous recipes that you are willing to share - I'd love them.

If you are a fellow Bendian, you are welcome to come over and share with us. Dinner will be followed by a viewing of my favorite holiday movie "Scrooged". It'll be a good time.

Debbie K's Camera

I had noticed the last time I was visiting Debbie K that she had some really cute pictures of my kids that I had never seen. I asked her to kindly hand over her memory card so I could copy them off. She did.

These are some of the pictures that she had captured over the past year of my little ones that were too cute not to share.

Powder Puff Football

Thursday night was Katya's first big Powder Puff Football game.

For two weeks the freshman girls had gotten together and had some impromptu flag football education and practice.

Bob came home early so that I could bundle up and go out with Terren to cheer my little darlin' green monster on. It was freakin' cold and although I was bundled up in my warm boots, warm jacket, gloves, hat and thermal shirt - my bum was freezing from sitting on those aluminum bleachers. I'm buying myself a bleacher chair.

Anyway, the Senior vs Sophmore game was first. It was a good game, but the sophmores beat the Seniors. Ouch.

Next up was Katya's game. She is a tiger out there! She got tackled a couple of times when she dove for that football and she had no problem chasing girls down to rip off their flag belt. She had teachers commenting on how agressive she was all day. She is such a good athlete. She gives every game her all.

Unfortunately, the Juniors were a tough team to beat and they triumphed in the end. But it was a great game and everyone had a good time. I even got to meet Katya's hunky new boyfriend, Luke.

*New* Recipe Thursday

I have lots of people coming up to Bend for the holidays and I can't wait. Over the past year I have collected some wonderful dinner recipes for feeding my family, which I will use next month.

But really, my favorite meal of the day is breakfast.

I would gladly forgoe any fancy dinner in exchange for a plate of biscuits and country sausage gravy for breakfast. Or pastries. Or a hobo scramble with lots of bacon.

So, with six people decending on my house for the best and most important meal of the day I have been researching breakfast recipes. Both warm and just muffins. My family are always willing guinnea pigs.

I thought I would share my new favorite recipes and if you have one or two that you love, please share.

Amish Breakfast Casserole

1 pound breakfast sausage
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
6 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1 1/4 cups shredded swiss cheese

1. In a large skillet, cook sausage and onion until sausage is cooked through; drain. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients; stir in sausage mixture. Transfer to a greased 13x9x2 baking dish.

2. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes or until set and bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Moving On

The election is over and we have a new President. The country can stop holding it's breath.

I can finally watch TV without having to endure all the horrid election commercials.

Last night was so historic in many ways. Our first African-American President. How cool is that? Granted, a woman in office would have been a historic first as well.

I remain hopeful that since we had almost 65% of the country vote (first time since 1908, evidently) - the voice of the people demanding change has been heard.

It is still going to be a tough couple of years. No country can recover from what we have been through these last few months overnight. Last couple of years, really. The ripples will be felt far and wide and for too long. All I can do is be thankful I have a job, Bob's business has work and that people seem to have a new resolve to help each other through the tough times ahead. We all are being expected to go above and beyond just to make ends meet.

Personally, I know several people out of work. My uncle is going to have to commute from Bend to San Diego where work is. Lots of retired people that had lived off of savings and investments are returning to the workforce part-time. Some people that work construction are becoming truck drivers or getting work hours away. My hairdresser's husband is out in the forest cutting down trees in the snow to earn money. We do what we have to.

This Christmas will be a lean one. But this is our opportunity to show our kids and ourselves that "stuff" is not what makes a joyous holiday. Family, friends, good food, funky movies, corny Christmas music and home made gifts can make for a more memorable and important holiday than one with lots of "stuff" that you bought.

So, here is looking to tomorrow with great hope.

Getting Politics Off of My Chest

All this mudslinging on the TV and constant bickering between who considers themselves a Republican or Democrat is leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

If I made the rules there would be no "party" affiliation. I think that candidates should stand on their own beliefs, convictions, education, experience and vision. No hiding behind the whole "you should vote for me because I am in your party".

So many people are so staunch in their belief that anyone who calls themselves a member of their political party should be good. When it comes time to fill out their ballot they just select everyone on their party's ticket.

The Independant party was supposed to help balance this out, but the two main party's still trump them so if you really want to be elected you usually have to commit to one or the other even if you probably don't agree with everything the party stands for. Also, if you want to access the large pool of money that the two party's have for publicitiy you must pick a side.

This whole thing is silly.

And don't get me started on the Church thing. I believe in separation of Church and State. If you wish to belong to a Church to worship - by all means do so. But someone's religious opinions are outside of their "job" in office. If you are a Jew, Catholic, Pentacostal, Christian, Wiccan, Baptist, Mormon ...whatever... I only care about the job you will do in office. It doesn't mean that you practice what you preach at home. I dislike others judging people because if you belong to a Church you are this way or that way. And I dislike Churchs throwing their support behind one candidate or another. When I was little I remember sitting in my Grandma's church while the pastor would say that everyone needed to vote for this person or that person. It seemed wrong when I was seven and it seems wrong now. The worst was when a pastor I know told the congregation that Bill Clinton was the anti-christ. Unfreakinbelievable.

So, my perfect world doesn't exist. It probably never will.

Hopefully everyone has already voted or will be voting today. Whatever you do - please vote.

And if I have totally irritated or offended you, I am sorry. It was not my intent.

Halloween

I was so not feeling the "mood" this Halloween. Not sure what my funk was, but I was not motivated to do much of anything Halloweeny. Katya was going to a football game and then movie night with some girlfriends, so she was MIA.

Lucky for me, my husband is a social butterfly and he had accepted an inviation to a family Halloween party with some friends of his. I actually had to don a witch hat and cape that I had stashed away so I could at least say I was dressed up. Bob put on a mullet wig and looked pretty funny.

Alexis was dressed up as a flower and she didn't want to take her costume off for anything. Logan was a dragon. He couldn't have cared less that he was dressed up. But he looked cute.

When we went with the whole crew trick or treating I wasn't sure how the kids would do. Alexis worked the "Trick or Treat" and often scored herself an extra candy. Which she promptly put into her mouth paper and all if she got impatient.

Logan refused to say "Trick or Treat" and instead resorted to the cute parade wave that he has going. Being a forceful guy, he would just reach in and grab no less than three pieces of candy a handful. That is skill.

Afterwards we went back to their house and noshed on BBQ meatballs and pumpkin cheesecake until bedtime. It was fun and hopefully next year I will be feeling more festive.

More Pumpkin Patch Fun

On Sunday we returned to the Central Oregon Pumpkin Company - only this time as a family.

We had a lot of fun this year since both kids could walk and had an attention span of longer than 30 seconds. We hit the petting zoo, which was remarkably low on goats to pet. Then we got a caramel apple, yum. With dark chocolate chips on top. Double yum. Then was the train ride, the archery challenge, the pirate ship and slide, the beloved pumpkin canon (I missed hitting that beat up old car by "that" much) and finally the maze.

Bob went on the train ride with the kids while I went with Katya to the archery challenge. She got five arrows and on her fourth hit a BULLSEYE. Right on! She is so cool.

After the archery we went to the pumpkin canon and I got to launch a cannon for the first time. I loved it. What a feeling of power when that thing launches. I so wanted to see it splat all over that beater car. Next year for sure!

By this point Alexis became demon child. I had to forceably strap her into the stroller and ignore her screams and tantrum throwing for seemingly forever. Luckily the "thump" of the pumpkin canon drown out her screams. Even kettle corn wouldn't appease her.

Then we got to the pumpkin patch to find our pumpkins. It took for freakin' ever because all the crazy frost had caused a bunch of pumpkins to start rotting. Alexis asked nicely if she could walk so I let her out and she roamed the patch for about an hour trying to touch the yulky ones. She became so happy that she started randomly hugging Logan. It was pretty cute but Logan wasn't loving it. I'm thinking that if a gigantic garden is what makes her happy, we are all over that next Spring.

It was fun and after several hours we headed home. I wish I could say that they fell asleep on the way home, but they didn't. I think the caramel apple and kettle corn might have been to blame.

Snugglebunnies

Kids are cutest when they are asleep.

Especially if they are toddlers who have given you a hard time all day.

Last night when I was checking on the kids before I went to bed I found them snuggled up together in the race car bed - laying backwards. They were so cute I just grabbed a blanket and covered them up.

Mama Bought a New Pair of Shoes

Lame, I know. But I haven't bought myself a new pair of shoes (that weren't walking shoes) in forever. I did buy some sandals over the Summer, but nothing I could wear when I had the kids with me. Work only kind of stuff.

Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but I have found out to my great dismay that my post-baby feet are a full size larger than my pre-baby feet. I have some beautiful shoes that I have worked hard to purchase over the last ten years and now they don't fit. I leave them in my closet even though I can't wear them because I love them.

Yesterday running around for work stressed to me the importance of getting some new shoes. You see I have been wearing tennis shoes for months now (broken toe and all) and evidently the venting that works so well in summer isn't so great in Fall. The cold breeze that would come up froze my little toes. So, I finally just broke down and went to Macys and bought a pair of shoes.

Evidently I did good because Katya says they are cute. I like them because they:

a) have some color
b) are warm
c) are waterproof
d) go up past my ankles to keep them warm
e) are flat so I can still chase after my kids while wearing them

I still need a few more pairs of shoes, but shoes are spendy and I have skinny little boat feet that are hard to fit. I would like another pair of dressier black or brown leather boots. I saw a pair of Michael Kors that were darling but the toe box was too tight and the heel was too loose. I was sad.

Trouble in DVR Land

Tragedy struck our house on Sunday evening. Bob and I were watching an episode of Chuck when all of a sudden - blip - the tv turned off. The DVR went dark and never was to recover.

That was very sad news for Katya who hadn't seen the episodes of Chuck or Bones that were on it.

Last night I ran to the upstairs TV at 8 o'clock to try and catch Chuck as it broadcast real time. But of course, I missed Boston Legal because it doesn't come on until 10pm. I just can't stay up that late when I wake up so early.

Today I have the cable guy coming over this afternoon to hopefully bring a working DVR with him so I don't miss recording any of our favorite shows. After all, we never actually sit down to watch TV at normal times and if we don't record what we actually want to see - there is nothing on.

And per Mandee's suggestion, I will have to plug in the pumpkin looking dude that she says is on the Disney channel right now.

Anyone else have suggestions of good stuff that I may not know about?

The Room Is Decorated

The kids' room is decorated as good as it is going to get for quite a while. I am a bit frustrated that it did not turn out quite as planned due to the frustrating habit that those self-stick borders had of NOT sticking to the walls. Every time I walked into the room it had peeled off. I managed to glue Tinkerbell up, but the Cars border fell down on top of Logan who promptly crumpled it into a nice big ball. Oh well.

Although the room is not exactly what I wanted it to be, I think it is pretty good. Logan's walls are silver and have some of the Cars characters on it. They are still sticking, thank goodness. Alexis' walls have Tinkerbell and courtesy of Elmer's Glue, her border is still up. I had Bob put up a curtain rod and I hung some curtains to dim the light a bit more for naptimes and it is working well already.

The kids are still enjoying looking at the walls and telling me the names of all the characters on it. I still want to put some stars on the ceiling, but I might have to have someone bring them up from San Diego at Christmas since I can't find them here.

The room itself is pretty small and with the addition of the extra huge car bed, there is no room for playing in the the room itself anymore. Luckily, the closet is a walk-in so they can play in there. It should be a fun and happy room for the next few years.

The Bed Is Here - sorta

On Thursday I got the magic email from Walmart saying that the much anticipated car bed had arrived and needed to be picked up. Bob told me that he would pick it up after work and bring it home. I had a Campfire event to go to, so I left the kids with Debbie K. and figured that all would be well.

I got home and ran upstairs to find Bob huffing and puffing having just finished the bed. I turned the corner of their bedroom to look in and I found - the wrong bed. It was not the bed that I ordered at all. In fact, it is much wider (6 inches) and longer (5 inches) and a solid light blue. Bob was exhausted from dismanteling the crib and hauling all the bed pieces upstairs and putting it all together. Inside he had set the toddler mattress and told me that he just didn't think that it looked right.

That is when I had to tell him that he put over an hours effort into the wrong bed. I had to go and show him on the computer the bed that he picked out and the bed that he put together. The fact that the bed we now have upstairs is in fact more expensive than the bed we ordered finalized Bob's decision that it was good and we weren't going to dismantel the bed, put it back into the packaging, drive it back to Walmart, have to re-order the correct bed, wait another two weeks, re-assemble the crib and go through the bed assembly all over again. Luckily we had a twin mattress in the Art Room so we just dropped it in.

With all that out of the way, we brought the kids upstairs to see the new bed and Logan LOVED it. He kept climbing in and out and he would lean over to look at the tires. Then he would climb out of the bed to touch the tires some more and then climb back in. It was really funny. You can tell by the look on his face how thrilled he was. Bob was there with his video camera catching the whole thing.

I had put Alexis' new Tinkerbell bedding on her bed and she was all into that before she even noticed the new car bed, which was good.

So now this is Logan's new bed. Alexis has already slept with him in it and it is the designated play area for non-sleep times. Although, I must tell you that I have already had to sleep overnight in the bed with Logan to keep him in his bed and Alexis in hers and during naptime. We'll see how long I have to lay down in that thing before the novelty kind of wears off.

I am currently decorating the walls and will post the finished bedroom as soon as I am done.