Happy Grandparents Day

I love that she still sleeps like this... She fell asleep on our walk this afternoon and I carried her in and she slept for awhile. Aidan was kissing her to help her feel better. Both kids have had colds this week.

110 Days

until Christmas. Doesn't that make you have a little panic attack. I heard that on the news this evening while I was unloading groceries. Speaking of groceries, while at the store, with two kids, after work, with one of them screaming bloody murder, the other crying a bit because I did actually turn the cart too fast and bonked her head, my purse slung over my shoulder with half the contents falling out, some little old lady comes up to me and asks me what aisle the bread is on. I looked at her for the longest time. Dumbfounded. Did I really looked like I worked there?
I fed my kids McDonald's tonight. Me... the one who after I had Abby swore she was going to eat Tofu, never watch tv, eat candy or drink juice-yada yada. Hey as long as their bellies are full they are happy right? It's been A VERY long week with one VERY crabby little boy. I left work this morning to take him to the dr- he's been pulling on his ear. All is fine- no ear infections. He doesn't see the left ear tube at all and the right tube is out- just sitting in the canal. I haven't been running as much this week- sorta hit a lazy few days and no motivation. In case you missed the news there was a neighbor of ours who fired a gun in the air about 5 times on the street that goes to our house. It's on kgw.com and under search type in Tualatin and you should find it. Needless to say I found out where he lives so Mama Bear is now very watchful :-)

Aidan Sings

You will need to scroll to the bottom of the page to turn off my music before you watch the video.

Ballet and Backyard

Our landscaper talked us into a water feature... they are his specialty to begin with. So... a new take on the happenings out back. Aidan still isn't eating much but he's been happier today. He's not going to like me when he gets up from his nap- I'm going after him with the saline nasal spray. Abby is back in ballet. I had such pure joy watching her excitement grow... 'is it time to leave yet?'

First Day of School

What a day! Here's our little girl in her school uniform. We all took Abby to school and then to the auto body place to drop off the van and get a rental car. Rick takes our car home with Aidan since it is the only car we have with car seats now. I take the rental car to work- of course it has NO gas and I am already late for work as it is. With missing work last week I was already a tad stressed. All in all it was a great day. Landscaping has started I posted a picture from yesterday as our 'before' photo and then today. Aidan isn't eating for some reason and has been unusually crabby and clingy. His nose is running off his face today- I don't know if he has a cold or if it's the MMR vaccine starting to kick in. After 10 days some part of the vaccine is supposed to kick in and they get cold-like symptoms. I remember Abby having the runny nose, a fever and then spots. I am praying he breezes through- I can't miss more work!

Monday Monday

Aidan woke up at 6 am calling for Mama. Rick went and got him and put him in our bed and he fell back to sleep. Abby woke up calling for Mommy so I yelled for her to come in. I cannot think of a better way to start my day. All of us in bed. In addition, if you lived at our house you would know that both kids always call for Daddy. Even when they wake up in the middle of night- they always call for him. Unusual today.

I've been making new receipes since I have been off for 6 days. Last week- Georgia peach pecan crusted chicken sandwiches. YUM. Last night I tried this skillet dish with shrimp, rice, chicken apple sausage. The best thing about that one was it makes 3 meals- you eat one and freeze two. Tonight I am trying this kettle chip crusted chicken skewer thing with grapes. It's marinated in a yogurt, lemon, cumin, garlic sauce and then you roll it in crushed chips. I can't remember the others at the moment. My memory has been bizarre lately. Rick found the peanut butter in the fridge. I put an opened box of cereal in the pantry in the hallway where we store things. I threw away the lid to Aidan's milk jug. The list is longer but I can't remember :-)

We went out in the backyard yesterday after dinner and shoveled up river rock so Rick can put it under the shed that is under our deck- the shed started to sink from all the rain. He wanted to use it before the landscapers got rid of it. The kids had a blast putting rocks in buckets and just playing in the dirt. Abby ended up doing something with his wheelbarrow and received a large wooden splinter embedded under the skin of her finger pad. Not a sliver. A splinter. She was so good- I squeezed on that thing to get it to move towards the opening and it was thick. I had to pull hard and she did not once flinch or cry. All she said was, "Are you a doctor?" I think she was just excited to finally have an excuse to wear one of the princess bandaids that Santa put in her stocking last year.

Landscaping starts tomorrow. I am bursting with excitement.

We had to run out and get Abby a backpack for school today (last minute) because some new state regulation says they have to keep their winter coats and change of clothes in a backpack vs. a cubby to control head lice if that should happen. Anyway she got the LAST princess one at Target. Aidan wants to be just like her so she let him wear her little one.

What day is it

I've been off work since Wednesday... techincally working from home but I've been lacking motivation and doing a bit here and there. I decided to buckle down this evening and dive in and get somewhat caught up.
A random thought I have- why do women wear high heels to the zoo? I am perplexed by this. Why oh why do you feel the need to put yourself through that much pain???
Guess who locked herself out of the house with her two kids? I took the kids on a walk Wednesday- normally I take my cell and my keys but this time didn't bring my keys. The batteries to the keypad to get into our garage had died. This was at 4pm and it would take Rick at least 45 mintues to rescue us. I called my mom first and left a message, she called me back about 5 minutes later thankfully she lives one mile from us and brought me our spare key.
I noticed today there is blue paint(??) on the front bumper of the minivan. I tell you- this car is destined to be hit with signs, shopping carts, shelving and now something blue. I'm thinking eventually they will just have to repaint the whole thing. The landscapers were by today to drop off wood to set up stuff. I am getting SOOOOO EXCITED.

Zoo and Washington Park

Blessed are we. Perfect day with the family, perfect day at the zoo and some family pics at Washington Park. Aidan fell asleep on the zoo train and then again in the backpack. Short little cat naps so we'll be in for it this evening. We were supposed to have family pics last Sunday but the photographer cancelled due to early labor... so I wanted to use our white shirts before the end of summer- we ended up using the self timer on the camera.

Carpets and Dirt

We had our carpets professionally cleaned today! Yippeee. We have a carpet cleaner but you know there is nothing like having someone ELSE do it for you. Landscaping starts next week- I can hadly contain my excitement. Rick's level of excitement is like a turtle. He handles his emotions with such serene tranquility that I am amazed. Daily. Anyway, It will be nice to see them transform our huge piles and potholes of dirt into something useable.

I am off work now for 6 days. The kid's school is closed for fall set-up/inservice so I'm 'working from home'. Rick is taking Thursday off so we can go to the zoo. Abby really wants to see the baby elephant but I don't think he'll be on display for awhile.

Rick took Aidan to get his MMR vaccine yesterday. I'm crossing my fingers he breezes through with no reactions... have to wait almost 2 weeks before they show up. Rick doesn't remember Abby's vaccine reaction so I am posting a photo to jog his memory. Can you see all her spots?

Monday Monday