Last post of the year.

I didn't do a family "This is what we did" letter this year.  We also almost didn't send out cards (just got them today and are in a pile on our table).  So I will do a combined year end summary and Christmas post.

2010 in a quick glance:

January started slow but my little bugger (Elijah) started crawling.  Made life a bit more interesting, now when I put him down, I could not promise he would be there when I returned from the bathroom.  Elijah also had his butt fixed.  It was a quick surgery that I think did us more harm than it ever did Elijah.  He was a cutie though in those awesome PJ's they had him wear.

February was off to the Auto show with little else happening that month.  Elijah kept growing and learning new tricks.

March we celebrated B.J.'s birthday and Elijah learned how to eat with a spoon.  Due to where Easter fell on the calender we celebrated our first Easter with the Okel's and Elijah learned how to fly a kite. 

April we went to Minnesota for Grandpa Berwyn's funeral.  As sad as it all was, it was fantastic to see all of BJ's family.  We spent several days with his cousins, aunts and uncles.  The drive wasn't as bad as expected, however, once your child decides he does not want to be in the car seat any more it makes for a very long ride. 

May was busy.  We had two graduations in May and my first mothers day.  Elijah spent a lot of time in the car but for the most part was a real trooper.  We had a smallish melt down on the way home from Iowa but other than that no problem.  Mother's day was spent feeding ducks and playing in the creek in our downtown area.  It was a nice way to celebrate.  All my family.

June we participated in the annual church mega garage sale.  In that time we also decided the life of my Mazda 626 was getting to be a bit costly.  And as luck would have it my mom fell in love with a very Turquoise car.  We decided to buy my mom's car and sell mine.  Then it was birthday season, Brett's, Elijah's first, and mine.  Some where in there was Father's day too.  Elijah spent his first birthday at the zoo in the most severe weather this area has seen in a while.  Thank goodness though there were lots of houses and places to get out of the rain.  It was the first time in what hopes to be a long continuing tradition. 

July was Elijah's second Fourth of July and he loved it so much more than the first.  It was also a great time to spend outdoors the whole month. 

August BJ and I decided we needed to have a grown up night and we went off to the Black Eyed Peas concert.  We had a blast, and we were even able to drive the Mini Cooper.  I also had decided to leave my job of 4 years and look for a new position.  I left my job and began with a new company in Naperville.  I am very happy with the new decision and even though I miss my old kids dearly, I am falling in love with new ones. 

September was Labor day and lots and lots of labor.  Little man started to walk and life has never been the same since.  At the end of the month we went off pumpkin picking and went to the petting zoo that Elijah's Great-Grandma used to work at.  It was a fun time but it also was the beginning of Elijah's continual battle with illness.  He had is first real fever and still has it to this day.

October we went out Trick or Treating.  Elijah was a big fan of it.  Knock on the door so EEE uh EEE hold out your bag and they put candy in it.  Say A-ooo and do it again at the next door. 

November was a time for food.  Lots of eating, lots of traveling between houses.  Oh and BJ was promoted.  He is now off the production line of the sugar making process and is now on the purchasing end of everything.  He too loves his new job.  I love that he loves it.  Elijah had his first ear infection and managed to survive it real well.

December we were able to meet some of the Blackhawks as well as celebrate our second Christmas with our little man.  We were blessed with many family members and lots of time to spend seeing them all. 

Over all 2010 was a decent year.  Elijah just keeps growing and it scares me how much more growing he has to do.  Good luck in 2011.  See you next year.

Things don't always turn out the way you plan

I had a wonderful Blog about how wonderful my Christmas was, how adorable my child is, and how I all around love my family and blah, blah, blah.  I uploaded all of the Christmas pictures on my camera to show you proof of all I say but then I went and killed my computer.  Apparently the computer was noticing how for the past month + the whole house has been sick.  Well in true family fashion BJ got the flu/bad cold the day before Christmas and on through Sunday.  On Monday he went to work even though he wasn't feeling great, my computer then caught it.  It then decided to refuse entry to the Internet.  Therefore, foiling my plans to share what I had wanted to share.  So instead I will give you my New Years resolutions.

In 2011 I will:
Blog more (than 2010),
Eat less (sugar),
Clean more (during the week),
Watch TV less (decrease # of shows I follow),
Save more ($$),
Weigh less (than ???),
Work hard (at work),
Play harder (at home and on the weekend),
Read more (books),
Clean car (inside and out)

And Happy 6 month birthday to ME!!!  Maybe soon I will get back to you about our Christmas!

Let it begin...

Christmas that is.  For you know, tonight is Christmas Eve, Eve.  In my family we celebrate this day.  This was the day Santa came to my mothers house and delivered our gifts.  Tomorrow we start the Holiday Season and spend it with family.  First we will be taking it easy tomorrow morning then going to my mothers house for Christmas, then going to the 9:30 Christmas service, we will come home and go to bed.  Santa will come then and in the morning we will wake up and see our new treasures.  After showers and  getting dolled up we will jump in the car and head off to my fathers house for Christmas breakfast and nap time.  Then we will head over the Okel family home for dinner.  We will be home some time that evening then on Sunday we will have Christmas with my brother and my step-father.  Then will be Monday and I will be so exhausted but a small part of me will be very sad too.  It will be the second time since being a kid that I will not be going to Michigan to see my family. 

I have a big family, lots of people all around the globe.  Christmas is one of the only times of year that I get to see many of them.  But with my new job, and BJ's job, vacation time really is minimal if any right now.  But without the stress of having to pack for a 3 day trip to Michigan, it just doesn't feel right.  So as I sleep tonight I will be thinking of all my dear cousins and the Collins family.  Merry Christmas!

So thankful!

I am so thankful for being around my family and having the ability to ask them for favors.  Without my family I would be a constant worry wart and not able to get anything done.  All my wonderful mom's are helping me out this week and watching Elijah.  It started with needing someone to watch him on Thursday due to daycare being closed and me needing to work, and turned into Elijah spending Tuesday-Monday at home with family.  Hopefully this means he will get better and I will too.  And although all the Grandma's love spending time with the baby it also means they are unable to get as much done around the house.  So all I have to say is THANK YOU, and I LOVE YOU ALL! 

On a side note, Elijah will have Go Dog Go memorized by the new year! 

Stay tuned for Christmas 2010 and the New Years resolutions of 2011.

Things I've learned this weekend.

1. If you buy candy canes from walmart they will all be smashed to pieces. Good if that is what you were planning to do to them.

2. Parchment paper and wax paper are different things.
3. a child's poopy diaper can be super stinky at 5:00 am.
4. You should not start your car with the garage door closed.

5. I love my mixer, even if I only get to use it once a year.

6. If you refrigerate cookie dough add 1-2 minutes to the cook time, or else you get cookie barf.

7. You should warn the neighbors before you start crushing candy canes in your kitchen. 

8. My kid is always cute even if he is sick AGAIN

9. I don't think all my nativity sets will get out before Christmas.  That makes me very sad but i would rather miss my nativity sets than see the ones broken.

10. It's cold outside.

11. I'm done with my Christmas shopping.

 12. I hate laundry.

Winter weather

Poor Elijah, it take us more time to get ready in the morning than it actually takes us to drive to daycare. 

First I have to catch the boy, then I have to figure out how to get his snow pants on while keeping him in one spot.  Then I have to jam his feet into the little snow boots and zip the snow pants around them.  I have to put on Elijha's had which makes him look SOOO cute because he looks like a lumber jack.  Then I have to get his mittens on, which consists of jamming his hands in up to his elbows and zipping them up.  Then I have to get my boots on, and coat, and scarf and find my mittens.  Then I have to chase the child around the kitchen table and pick him up.  Between my fluff and Elijah's fluff, picking him up is a HUGE challenge.  Then once we get to daycare I have to rip all of the stuff off him and keep it together so I don't lose it before I pick him up.  Some day I will take a picture of him in his gear.  Real cute!

Pleasures of being a parent

Part of the reason I have not been bloging as much this past month is due to the fact that Elijah has really been trying my patients.  I love my baby boy, I love him so much, but when he was sick, and I was sick, he really tried me.  I have to admit, there were many moments these past few weeks that he would wake up in the middle of the night, or super early and just scream.  Since I too was sick I didn't tend to him as I should have, but took him to my bed and hope that I too could get just a smidge of extra sleep.  Then came the antibiotics.  I loved them, for both Elijah and myself, but then came the yeast rash.  Now all of a sudden he didn't want his bottem touched because it was redder than an apple.  Have you ever tried to hold/carry a baby when you couldn't touch it's butt?  Yeah it was not awesome. 

By the end of the day, I was so exhausted and I felt like crap that I didn't want to do anything but sleep.  Saturday, Elijah goes back to the doctor to check to make sure his ears are clear (which I don't think they are) and hopefully we will be back on track for a healthy household.  Cross your fingers.

I Owe You an Appology

I have to admit, since Thanksgiving I have been very bad at blogging.  I sometimes think this is for the better, for I have been ill since about that time and if I would have continued to blog it would all been about how crappy I have felt.  However, I think I might be getting better and back in the blogging mood.  For example, today I though of a wonderful question to post for you.  Due to the ridiculous crazy reflexes of hockey goalies, do you think they are better drivers than the average population?  Just wondering.

I also thought you would all get a kick of of the fact that the doctor put me on a 10 day antibiotic and the pills are so large that I can't swallow them whole.  I first was able to swallow the pill, however, then I started gagging on it.  Then I broke the pill in two which worked for a day or two then I couldn't swallow it.  Now and for the next 6 days I have to crush the pill and hide it in a cup of applesauce so I don't die.  Poor Elijah, he loves applesauce and doesn't get the reason why I am not sharing with him.  Or why I am making a gross face when I eat it. 

Snow: by Elijah

At Halloween Mommy went an bought a big bag of fluffy stuff to make my spider legs out of.  I like to take the fluff out of the bag and spread it around the house.  Mommy gets mad, but I think its silly.  Today we went out to eat and when we were done there was fluffy white stuff on our car.  I wanted to grab it and show Mommy, it would make her laugh to see it on her car.  So I did.  AHHHHH GET IT OFF GET IT OFF IT'S COLD!!!  I don't like the fluffy white stuff outside the house.  What the heck is that stuff?  How did it get on the car? 

Still sick

I am still sick.  All I do now is take care of Elijah and myself.  Spending way too much time with tissues and antibiotics.  I do not have any whity things to blog about but I want to go to bed.  All the time.  So that's where I'm going as soon as I fix some things online.

Parenting issue

Most of you know that I live in the Midwest.  And if you have ever visited the Midwest you know we can have temperatures from 110 in the summer and -20 in the winter.  Personally, I would like to experience the 110 any day instead of the -20, and that was before I had a child. 

When we were pregnant we went to the car seat safety class and learned all about how to safely transport your almost born child in the car.  The problem: during the summer months and when your pumped full of pregnancy hormones, you don't think about what happens when they out grow the bucket seat.  One thing you learn over, and over, and over again is NEVER, NEVER put your child in their car seat in their winter coat.  Because in a car crash, the layers of clothes compress to equal one layer and they may slip out of the restrains.  That's not good.

Now it is around 20 degrees out in the morning and I have to get my child from building to car and back while making sure he doesn't get to cold.  Initially I kept his fall coat on and gave him a hat and once in the car he would wrap his real winter coat around his body.  When we get out of the car, I unbuckle him then "try" to put his winter coat on backwards as we run like mad into the building we were heading to.  However, most of the time he is wiggling too much for me to get his coat on and we typically end up with just the fall coat on.  Today I put on Elijah's snow pants and the fall coat over that so at least he has some warmth around his midsection, but I don't think I could get the car seat straps tight enough. 

Oh and mittens.  Elijah thinks they are funny and will wear them for about 5 -10 minutes or until you are driving.  He then takes the off and chucks them when you are not looking and when you go to get him out of the seat you can only find one.  

When I ask what to do, people tell me just to wrap them in a blanket and run, but have you ever tried to carry a toddler while wearing your winter coat, carrying a huge purse and wearing mittens.  Do I risk the possibility that I get in a car accident and put Eli in his car seat while wearing his coat, or do I just freeze my child until March?  AHHHHH

I think it's dead

Today it was the first snow.  The snow wasn't deep or thick but it was none the less snow.  I try at least 3 times a winter to enjoy the beauty of it.  So there I was watching the snow fall on the pond behind my work.  I was sipping my hot tea and getting ready mentally for the day.  As I watched the snow and the waves I started looking at the trash in the pond.  Then I saw it.  At fist I thought someone hat thrown a turkey in the lake, then I thought it looked like a cat on his back.  At that point I had to go find someone.  The office consensus was that it was a muskrat or something but it stayed and floated in front of my window ALL DAY long. 

I'm still here

Its been over a week since I was here last.  Sorry but the last 7 days + days were crazy. 

Wednesday: I worked until 7 but my last kid left at 1, so I was a bit crabby.  We went out for dinner with the neighbors.
Thursday: We woke up at 7:30 Awesome! and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with my little guy.  I don't know what my deal was, but I cried about 10 times.  The worst one was when Santa came.  I was a blubbering mess.  Then we left for the Okel home, where we ate and ate and ate. Then we came home.

Friday: We slept int until 7:30 again it was awesome!  we did some cleaning and then we headed out to the mall to see Santa and Auntie Megan.  We then at dinner at Ed Debbviks where I proceeded to lose the Santa picture.  We bought Elijah a suit and maybe one Christmas present.  Then we drove to see Uncle Brett, Aunt Suzanne, Aunt Kelsey, Uncle Jason and Peter.  That's when I started realizing Elijah was a bit warm.  By 8:00 when we got home, Elijah had a 101+ fever.  I gave him drugs and put him to sleep. 

Saturday: We woke up at 8:00am, and got ready to go.  We headed out to the Children's Museum to hang with Grandpa Brian.  On our way to Grandpa's, Daddy got a flat tire and had to spend the next 2 hours fixing it.  By 6:00 Elijah had a fever again and it stayed with him ALL NIGHT LONG.

Sunday: We woke up at 8:00am and was real happy we had mastered sleeping in.  We skipped church to get healthy and get found Christmas in the attic.  And we started getting it all out.  We then headed out to Target, and to dinner for Great Grandpa Chapman's birthday.  When we got back we started putting up Christmas. (pictures to come when we are finished).

See busy not time to post.

Is it Christmas yet?

Oh my goodness, I can't wait for Christmas!  I got so excited today because I was able to watch people put up decorations at a shopping parking lot.  I listened to Christmas music coming home, AND I sang along.  I am so excited for getting the decorations down and setting them up around the house (however, I am not looking forward to keeping them all away from Elijah for the next few weeks). This year I'm excited for shopping, wrapping, making cookies, playing with the Fisher Price Nativity set and oh so much more.   Watch out, Mama in love with Christmas and wants to make it super fun for the baby!!!!!

Harry Potter!!

Saturday morning, I got my butt out of bed early for a Saturday and drove BJ's, Elijah's and my butt to my fathers house, dropped off my child, picked up my sister and headed to the movie theater at 9:00 am.  I have to admit, never been to the theater that early in the day before.  We watched the HP7 aka Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.  Wahoo!!  However, because I have had a child the last time I have read the books was 3 years so I was a bit out of it.  Unfortunately,  because the books are so darn large they end up cutting out HUGE amounts of the book which makes me sad.  Now I am on a mission to read and watch all the movies before the end of the series comes out, SOME TIME NEXT YEAR.  That is dumb.    Why do I have to wait that long??? BOO. 

Christmas List

During this time of year everyone wants Christmas lists.  Before this time of year, I could spit out a list for everyone in the family of 10-15 things.  Now I get stage fright.  I forget what I want.  I also know that everyone wants something that is different from the list that I have given the rest of the family.  I also have to take into consideration the cost of the items on the list.  I want a new camera for Christmas, however, that is not a gift I should ask for from my siblings who are in college or just fresh out of college.  So then I think there are some great items out there that I would love to have for work, however, people are against getting me things for work.  (That in itself makes me bummed because other people ask for things that they want in their office, I don't have an office I play all day, and getting some new toys would be great.)  I guess I'll make my Christmas list online here and I'll add to it as we go along, as I remember what I want.

List:

• A new camera, one that takes regular batteries (AA or AAA) more pix than 3 per photo, and a memory stick for it. Or Best buy gift cards.
• Some new sweaters (I like the longer ones that go mid thigh)
• Uno Moo
• Ikea gift cards
• The 7 books of Harry Potter ( I have the 6 movies already)
• Tickets to Billy Elliot, or Wicked with babysitter.
• Zingo
• Caraboo Island
• What's in Ned's Head
• Gift cards to Toy R us
• A new steam mop (mine just broke)

That's all for me.  For now.  Maybe I'll think of something else and add it later.

Happy Unfriend Day!

Today, is National Unfriend day.  This is the day when you go through your facebook account and you delete the people who are in your friend column who 1.) you don't talk with, 2.) you don't really "care" about knowing their every day happenings, and 3.) you don't want knowing your every day movements.

I cleared out about 27 people, however, BJ cleaned out 33 people from his first 100 out of 764 people.  People who are reading this blog and are my friends made the cut, if you were not my friend of facebook, then I didn't cut you. 

Have a happy Unfriend day! 

Help, I'm Lost!

On my way to work today, I was thinking about getting some oatmeal because I didn't have time to eat.  However, I started spacing out (mind you it was only 1/2 a block) and turned down the wrong street.  I drove about 100 feet before I realized my mistake so I took the first right into a subdivision and the next right which I think was not where I was supposed to go.  I then drove around this neighborhood for the next 10 minutes trying to get out to the main road.  Yeah awesome, totally lost.  HAHA, it was awesome.  Or not. 

Social Network

My goal in my blogging life is to get intoxicated, blog and then in the next 3 months start a multi-billion dollar company. 

Saturday, BJ and I went out to see Social Network which is based off of the the creation of Facebook.  I really enjoyed it.  Not just because it was the first movie in the theater, but because it made me think about when I started facebooking and all that stuff.  It also made me a bit upset that there is a billionaire out in the world 2 years younger than me that has this amazing job.  Oh well, I will just sit here and keep blogging until I have my billion dollar idea.  So keep reading.

Highly recommended you go see the movie.

A mouse in my house!

Friday I am sitting in the house by myself because BJ worked a double shift.  I had just gotten Elijah to sleep by holding him in my arms and I was hungry.  So being lame I decided to make mac and cheese, but since we had it the night before I had to wash the pan and strainer.  After I put the water on the stove to boil, I started looking at a catalog that showed up in the mail out of the corner of my eye I saw something dart across the floor, hit the corner of the dishwasher then a long tail disappeared under the dishwasher.  I proceeded to freak out call BJ (like he could really help me) and climbed on top of the couch.  His suggestion was to call the neighbor to set the traps.  Go figure they were far away.  So I was on a mission and called the rest of the neighbors to find someone to set the traps for me.  I then had him stay so I could make my dinner.  I then spent the rest of my evening scared to move off of the couch, which really was a bummer because I had planned to clean the kitchen while BJ was out and about. 

BOO to mice!!!

P.S. it was dead in the morning.

My life

Let me just share with you the morning I had.  Now keep in mind this is with my 16.5 month old child who has limited words.  This is us getting out the door today.

Me: (put dog food in the dog bowl and hand the bowl to Eli) Put in Rescue's crate.
Eli: (walks over puts the dog food bowl in the crate)
Me: (opens the cabinet to get out a dog treat and hands the treat to Eli) Tell Rescue "crate time" (turn my back to close up the cabinet)
Eli: (walks 10 steps and stops)
Me:  What are you doing?  Go give Rescue her treat.
Eli: (on the verge of tears no dog treat in sight)
Me: Where did the treat go?  I gave you one right?  I though I did.
Rescue:  (Can smell we have all touched her treat but also can't find it going crazy)
Eli: (about to cry, staring off into space)
Me:  Did you hide the treat?  Did you drop the treat?  Did I really give you a treat? (get down on the floor and look under everything)
Rescue: (jumping on top of us trying to find the treat)
Me:  I could have sworn I gave you a treat. (look one more time on the ground.  See the treat about a foot under the stove) Found it.  How did it get under there? (get the treat out with about 10 pounds of dust) Give this to Rescue.
Eli: (not real sure what to think drops the treat 3 more times in the 10 feet to Rescues cage)
Rescue: (barley able to contain her self just takes her treat and gets in the crate.)

I fixed the temperature

In the process of changing the clocks back I had my last straw with the thermostat.  I have been convinced that the thermostat has been reading the wrong temperature for over a year. In the summer it wasn't bugging me because I enjoy being warm.  However, when the thermostat reads 70 and I'm convinced it is not even 65 in the house I am freezing.  I went upstairs and got the indoor/outdoor thermometer and brought it downstairs.  It read 64.4 in the bedroom.  I placed it next to the thermostat downstairs that read 70.  I waited about 20 minutes and the temperature only changed about .3 degrees.  I then wanted to double check my findings, soooo because we are nerds, we have an infrared thermometer, I went around and checked the surface temperature of just about everything in the house.  I then took the average temperature of all the surfaces and compared them with the thermometer that I had brought down from upstairs and they were about the same.  I then started taking the thermostat apart trying to figure out how to reset the temperature.  I then looked up the owners manual for our thermostat online (thank you google, don't know how I lived my life without you).  I figured out it was real simple and did so.  Now the house finally feels comfortable and warm.  Wahoo go me!

Dreams

I had a dream last night that made me really mad at BJ.  Do you ever have those dreams?  You know the ones where you wake up and feel as though they really happened, however, you are 100% sure it was a dream.  It is just they have so much emotion behind them that even though you know it was a dream you are just so ANGRY?  Yeah that was me last night.  I woke up at 2:30 ready to take the baby, the dog and two days worth of clothes for us all and leave BJ to sleep at a hotel.  Yes that is how angry I was at BJ, I was going to take the Satin Dog with me.  Right, that would be a great idea, I see Rescue barfing in the car then eating the hotel room.  On second thought I think I should leave the dog with BJ.  But the rest of the night I spent revising the dream in the rest of my dreams, and all day I have been slightly annoyed at BJ.  Let's hope tonight will be better.

It's that time of year again.

No not when Christmas music being played before it really should, but when you have to figure out how to change all the clocks in your life.  The hardest one, the one in my car.  First of all, its a semi new car.  But secondly, you only do this job two times a year.  9 times out of 10 I remember to change every single clock in the house but completely forget about my car.  Then a day or two later when I get in my car I look down and freak out because my initial reaction is that I am an hour late for (typically) work or, why the heck am I going to be THIS early?? Then it hits me.  Daylight Savings time.  However, I am still driving so I am trying to figure out how to change the time in the 10-20 second at the red lights.  But I can never get it.  Then in my minuscule attention span I typically forget by the time I get to work (you know 3 minutes later).  Then it all happens again on my way home.  That's when I sit in my garage for the next 5 minutes until I get the time right. 

Ta Da!  This year I did it before noon on Sunday and only freaked out once.  That was when I thought I was lat for church.  HAHA  Can't wait for April!

Brrr...

Tonight BJ is outside helping to raise awareness for the homeless.  Last year BJ spent the night outside, this year, he is feeling a bit under the weather and is unsure if he will spend the night outside.  Oh and mind you the outside we are talking about in a box outside.  I did this once or twice in collage.  I froze so bad and was so uncomfortable and in so much pain I wasn't going to do it again. 

What did you do today

The weak link is ME!  Me and two of my family members were horribly ill yesterday.  Funny part though the two family members never saw each other they just saw me at different times of the day on Sunday.  And like a bomb we all got sick around 10pm on Monday night.  It was bad.  But I felt so bad about being sick that I was determined to go back to work today.  I just couldn't have all my kids miss therapy.  I felt bad for them. 

So today when the alarm went off I was feeling much better.  I got ready and was having no difficulties, just a bit hungry.  I made toast and took Gatorade with me to work and was doing good.  My first kid was exceptionally well behaved for me and we were doing great.  My second kid, however, I was not doing so great.  There were moments in there where I was contemplating what I would do if I actually got sick with him in there.  After he left I brought the giant pillow into my room grabbed my sweater and went to sleep.  I woke up an hour later and ate some soup as well as got a report done.  I then was starting to feel nauseous again so I grabbed my sweater and headed back to the room for another quick nap. 

Yah that's right I took two naps at work today.  I also made an obstacle course for a kid.  It was a nice day.  Now I will be heading off to bed to get some sleep so I don't have to do that at work tomorrow.

Halloween: By Elijah

Mommy says it's Halloween.  She said last year we went out trick or treating, what ever that is, but I was too little to remember.  So today I got all dressed up as a Scary black spider.  Mommy made my costume. Isn't it cute??

 After we are all dressed up we go outside and head around to peoples houses that we have never met.  We ring the door bell then say Trick or treat.  If you hold out your bucket they will put things in it.  Then you say thank you and you go to the next house and do it again. 

 By the end of the night, I was sleepy.  I said my trick or treat some of the time and I said my thank you's almost all the time.  I was really getting the hang of it.  But I was ready to eat some of my special treats. 

Can we do it again tomorrow?  I need more things for my bucket.  I like when people fill my bucket up.  It was a little chilly but not too bad.  My nose was running most of the time but I had super lots of fun.  I can't wait to do it again.

How to carve a pumpkin: By Elijah

 First you pick your pumpkin.  Make sure you have all your safety gear on.  Pumpkins are heavy and could be very dangerous.  Bring them home. 

 What are you waiting for you have to go home!

 Good thin the truck brought all of our pumpkins home.  We wouldn't be able to make it with them.

 Alright I need the crane to move these pumpkins.  A little to the right, a little more, aaaannnd stop.

 Hey look Geese!

 Now what?  Lunch?  Not yet. Okay, keep working.

 Make sure all your tools are sharp. 

 I can't move this thing.  Are you kidding me?

 Inspect your pumpkin to make sure it is good.

 Scoop out the insides.

 Check to make sure you got it all.

 Put all the guts and seeds in a bucket for Mommy.

 Scoop out all the insides, without touching it.

 Dump and then carve.

 Don't they look good??

Opposit day!!

Today was a bit, well um wrong. 

Driving down the road to meet with a doctors office I  watched my co-worker make a left hand turn.  However, due to new construction and new very faint lines she ended up turning down the wrong way on the road.  Yeah all of a sudden I saw her facing the wrong way in traffic.  I was in my car screaming to her "don't go that way."  She didn't hear me.  Once I knew she was alright I started laughing so hard I was crying.  Not awesome when you are the driver. 

Later that day I am sitting in the office waiting for my kiddo to show up and in walks an OT with her client.  I look down to realize the child has his shoes on the wrong feet.  I mention something to the OT who proceeds to look at me like, "you have got to be kidding me."  Yeah she put them on that way, not the kid putting them on himself that way. 

Funny!!

Construction accident

I will have pictures closer to Halloween, however, just an update, Elijah apparently had a fight with a hammer.  I got a text message today that Elijah smacked himself with a hammer.  I assume it was a toy hammer but I can't be to sure.  He also has begun to bite more at school.  When I ask why he is biting the teachers are unable to tell me.  Oh well.  Mysteries to be solved. 

Sneak peak

Halloween is just around the corner and this year Elijah might get to experience it the way it is supposed to be.  Therefore, guess what's coming...Baby post!

Until then here is a sneak peak of Elijah in his Halloween costume, well part of it. 

Fear of Public Bathrooms

I hate using rest rooms, I hate not using a bathroom that is not my own.  Reason's why...
1. I hate being less than an arm's length away while I am doing my "business"
2. I hate having other people hear things that are supposed to be super private.
3. I hate hearing other peoples things that are supposed to be super private.
4. I hate to have my rear touching the same surface as other people's rears.
5. I hate being in a place that I know less than 50% of people actually wash there hands.
6. I hate the thought that the person who just heard all my private stuff is someone I have to hold a professional conversation with and possibly shake their non-washed hand. 

More or less, I will hold it until, I turn yellow to avoid 1-6.  I think my bladder is the size of my lung. 

SORRY

I need to offer an apology to all the people in the world who I supposedly sent a spam message to through my e-mail account.  Apparently, yesterday I sent all of the people in my address book a virus.  However, some of you were lucky enough to get spam to a blog, some got spam for "enhancement" stuff, and others, not sure what you got.  Now this is my problem, I love this e-mail, I have had it for almost 10 years now.  I have things linked to this account that I don't even remember and if i change my e-mail address I need figure out what all I have in that account. 

Curiosity

I am always curious why there are some nights Elijah will go to sleep in less than a second and there are other nights when he will cry for hours on end.  Most nights he goes to be right away.  To night is not one of those nights not so great nights.  It's odd, he will be laying up there, then all of a sudden bust out crying for no real reason.  I think he might be cutting teeth, again...or he is getting a cold.  Either way I don't like my options.  Fussy baby.

How not to tell your child you're not married.

Mother: Tomorrow his father will talk with HR about the insurance.

(pause)

Mother: I would talk to them but since they don't know I am around, you know because were not married.
11 year old child: (Eyes the size of saucers and practically falling out of his chair) WHAT?? YOU AND DAD ARE NOT MARRIED????
Mother: UH
Child: You have two kids, a house and your not married??  WHAT?
Mother: (look of death on her face)

Me thinking: (Trying not to show my interior laughing fits) That is going to be a weird ride home.

Creatures

I wanted to have kids for many different reasons, one of which was so when the child was old enough I would have an extra set of hands to help clean the house.  Still waiting on that one.  Another reason was so Bj and I could take out the kids when they were old enough for parent child dates, like daddy daughter dances and whatever the equivalent would be for mommy sons.  Friday was the first mommy son outing and it was to church for cold blooded creature exploration.  I am just thankful they didn't decide to do creepy crawly critters.  I would not have had so much fun. 

Elijah and I went to see cold blooded creatures.  Elijah ended up taking a bite out of a plastic mold of a turtle foot on display, we knocked on a tortis' shell to get he to come out, we poked at a tortusis' foot, pet a snake, got a good look at a kimono dragon cousin, and 2 crocodiles.  One of which was flipping huge.  A friend of ours' son actually was able to ride the flipping thing.  I don't know if I would have been brave enough to let Elijah do so if he was older.  People say, you just have to trust the trainer guy.  Yeah, you know, I trust God, he made those things scary and ferocious so you don't go near them. 

Spider...

I don't know where Elijah heard this from but he loves spiders (in books).  I recently just bought Elijah 3 new Halloween books to read before bed, and his favorite pages are the ones with spiders on it.  It even got really cute when he started saying pider...or piduh as it came out most of the time.  Then a day or two ago it turned into deedi like most things in his life.  We get about a week out of a word, then it disappears for a while then it comes back. 

I am not going to lie, one of the things I was looking forward to about being a parent is that I would "train" my child to kill those big, scary spiders in our house.  But I would need a way to introduce the things to my kid without freaking out.  Turns out books are the way. 

Unfortunately the plan sorta backfired.  See Elijah became obsessed with spiders.  That's all he would look for. In fact, I think the spiders replaced the geese.  So today while I'm getting ready to leave, I hear Elijah's spider.  I get super freaked out thinking how will I kill it, make it look fun and encourage Elijah to do the next one.  Turns out the "spider" was really a mosquito eater, however, when your just about 16 months old they look the same.  I went over and bent down to show Elijah he could get close to it and it would be okay, so Elijah squatted down next to me and got real close, but not to close.  (Actually very cute looking)  I kept putting my foot over the bug and tried to get E to do the same.  When he did he actually stepped on it.  When he moved his foot he got upset because, the bug/spider was gone.  I mean really upset.  He refused to move to go to school until the spider came back.  Yeah that I can't do. 

Guess, I have to wait a couple more months before I can convince Elijah to save me from the spiders.  BOOOO!!

Advice

Just a bit of advice for you...
Next time you eat bean burgers for dinner, no matter how yummy they are, you should not have them for lunch the next day.  Especially when you already feel bloated.  You can only blame the smell in a small room on the little kid in there so many times.  LOL.

Confession Time

1. My house is messy.  Like really messy.  And I request all of you not to judge me for this.  I am not Susie homemaker and I am not planning on being her in the next few years. 
2. I very rarly make home made meals, however, I do request BJ to cook every now and then. 
3. I do laundry weekly but I only put it away, monthly.
4. No matter what I do, my house never gets clean.
5. I love to vacuum and would do it everyday if I could see the carpet or the vacuum didn't weigh 1000 pounds and could get it up and down the stairs quickly.
6. I let the dog sleep on the couch, but only on blankets.
7. At this point in time, Elijah's room is the cleanest in the house.
8. # of family pictures on the walls in my whole house=0
9. I don't want a cleaning lady because I think her job is the more fun part of cleaning, I hate cleaning up crap, love making this shine.
10. I just subscribed to Working Mother to hopefully help with 1-9.

I feel like it's been forever

I have realized this past week I have not blogged very much.  It has been a bit busy.  Let me fill you in.

1. Last Saturday we threw a surprise party for our neighbor who turned 30 last Thursday. It was a success, she was surprised.
2. Last Sunday we did church and joined a group to help make new mentors feel at home in our church.
3. Elijah and Daddy when to youth group together and I cleaned up all of Elijah's old clothes and put all the fall/winter ones in his closet (didn't know this whole week would be summer weather).
4. Monday worked until 7
5. Tuesday celebrated my 13 year anniversary with my hubby.
6. Wednesday I worked until 7 and had the issue with the plane crash in the area.

7. Thursday I had a class 1.5 hours away from home learned a lot and feel real good about being a parent and a therapist but spent over 3 hours in the car driving, went out to dinner with the neighbors for the birthday and then promptly fell asleep at 8:00 on the couch.

8. Friday visited a new mommy and baby pair, then headed to the old High school for the homecoming football game and and marching band.  Elijah enjoyed the marching band but was so ready to leave after that.  Seeing that it was 1.5 hours past his bed time.

 9. Today Elijah had his doctor appointment (31 inches long, 25 lb and 4 oz) had three shots, and was mad at mommy. Drove out for the college homecoming football game (E slept 2 of the 2.5 hour drive) watched/stayed for 2 quarters then walked all over the campus for 2 some hours before getting back in the car and driving home (another 2.5 hour nap for E). 

Elijah about to walk off the cliff/hill

  

climbing up the hill





Chiling with my little man under the bell tower





Family under the bell tower



Family photo

Wawa says Elijah

Here dino, smell my stinky shoes.  No daddy don't feed me to it.

 

Now I'm sleepy, but that was my week in a nut shell.  I miss the beauty of my college but would only go back if BJ would stay with me the whole time.  Also blogger is not allowing me to move the pictures to where I want.  So deal with them the way they are.  At least you got pictures.  Be thankful!