Halloween Past

One of our favorite Halloween costumes that B has worn was for his second Halloween when he was Frankenstein. I had ordered this costume from Ebay somewhere and he looked so adorable in it. His face was painted green for Halloween night and we had the grandparents over to our house before he went over for his first Trick or Treat experience. His evening consisted of going to his great-grandparents to T or T there and then off to a local senior living center that hosts an indoor trick or treat for children.

This year B has gone back and forth on what he wants to be. He has talked about a race car driver, ghost, superman, woody... and that is all I can think of right now.

We ended up with a Superman costume for $6 including shipping, so that was a good deal. He wore it to a party last weekend but this week has been telling everyone who asks that he is going to be a ghost. So, we will see I guess! I know I had a white sheet laying around in my craft stuff so if I can find it, he might just end up saying BOO! on Halloween night!

Be sure to visit (or don't, more chances for me to win) Mayhem and Moxie, 7 Clown Circus, and Mama's Losin' It for chances to win a FLIP of your own!

Back To School

Today was B's first day back to school at his Montessori Preschool. He was so excited this am and wore his backpack around the house for an hour before the bus came to pick him up after lunch.


I made a little treat for him to take to his teachers. It was a little tin with a bag of Hershey's Bliss chocolates inside. On the front of the card it read, "Red Cross First Aid Kit" and the inside said, "...because there is nothing a piece (or two!) of chocolate can't fix." As I former teacher myself, I know this is so true!

A Mother's Day interview with B

I've seen this on a few blogs and I thought I would join in...B and I took a nap together this afternoon and I asked him these questions about me when we woke up.

What is your moms name... Amber
How old is your mom... 33 (I'm 30)
What is the color of your mother’s hair... brown
What is her favorite color... Pink
What is her favorite thing to do around the house... Clean
What is your mom’s favorite drink... Milk
What is her favorite thing to eat... salad (umm... big no.)
What is her favorite TV show... Mario Kart
What is her favorite thing to cook... Macaroni and cheese
What is your mother’s favorite candy... chocolate
What time does your mother get up... 9:00 (If only!)
What time does she go to bed....10
How long does it take for your mom to get ready... 13 minutes
I really love it when my mom.... loves me
My mom likes to wear..... a dress (like never ever has he seen me in a dress!)
My mom always tells me.... be nice
The best thing she does is .... clean the house
It makes her happy when I..... be good
My mom loves to relax by .....sitting down
When shopping, my mom likes to buy... curtains (what?!?!)
My mom’s favorite thing to do around the house is ..... clean (Yeah, right!)
If she could go on a trip, she would go ... to the warehouse (oh, yes, I go there all the time)
I love my mom because ....she’s cute! (oh, so sweet!)

"New" bike

B was needing a new bike to have out at his grandma's house. Including him, there are 4 cousins who like to play at her house. She has tricycles and bikes but with B and his other 4 yr. old cousin, they were needing a bigger 16 in. bike.

I decided to check on craigslist for one since there was no need to spend the price of a brand new bike for out there. I was lucky enough to find one pretty close for only $10 on my second day of looking. The only think we were going to need to add was training wheels since he still hasn't mastered that yet.

He went with me to pick it up and was very excited about it. He has no idea it is not a shiny, new bike. He was so excited and loves it so much. He doesn't even want to take it to grandma's because he has been riding it here every opportuity he has.

We stopped to pick up some training wheels at the store before we came home and I got a pair for $7. Of course, as excited as he was, he wanted them on right away instead of waiting for his dad to get home to do it.

So we got to work in the garage and mama got them on! Dad did a little adjusting when he got home on one of the wheels, but I was pretty proud of myself.

Our little ol' snowman

We have wanted to make a snowman this year but have not been able to get out during the "right" kind of snow. Last week when we got about 6 inches, we tried to go out that very first day, hoping it would be good for building a snowman. It was not wet enough and we were only able to pat together a little snow mound. B had been wanting to use an ice cream cone for a nose all winter, and we could hardly even get it to stay stuck in the snow. I'm done with winter though, so if this is all we get for a snowman this year, it is fine with me!

Park

Thursday was such a beautiful day. I had attended the funeral of a dear best friend's father and had taken the day off. I had taken the day off to go in the morning and went to B's preschool Valentine party in the afternoon. On the way home, I was thinking of how nice it was that there were still a few hours of daylight left that I could have on the beautiful blue sky day to play with my son on his own. As we were driving home passed the park, he asked if we could go play. I had things that needed to be done, but when I thought about how nice the sky looked and thought about the forcast for the next day (6 in. of snow!) I said sure. We went home to change our clothes and drove back over to the park. We did the slides, bridge, swings, and he enjoyed playing in the fresh air as much as I enjoyed watching him. There were people walking their dogs around the lake or jogging, but we had the play areas to ourself.

My HOT Valentine Date

By HOT I am meaning with a fever. B ended up sick on Saturday and we did not go to the wrestling tournament to watch Daddy's team and get to see who qualified for state this next week. We enjoyed a quiet day at home and made some heart shaped pizzas for dinner together. I cut out our pepperoni and canadian bacon using my little heart shaped cutter. We also had strawberry applesauce and B drank from his Valentine cup he got at his school party.

Strike!

Last Friday we took B to the local bowling lanes for his first real bowling experience. He had wanted to go for a while and we decided late in the afternoon to spend a little family time together with this new activity. Yes, he is using a *pink* ball, it was the only 4lbs one they had.

It was a great night to go, there were only 2 other people there bowling while we were there. We had some cheeseburgers, fries, and chicken strips and had a little dinner while bowling as well.

He was really getting into watching his ball roll down the lanes. It helped that we had the bumpers up (helped Matt and I that is!)


Like usual, B ended up laying on the lane watching his ball make it down to the pins. He has always loved laying on the floor/ ground.

Life in the Midwest

Yesterday 5PM

Playing at the park 50 degrees

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Today 5PM

Playing in the yard- snow! Lots of snow!

Train Show

We attended the model train show for the 3rd year in a row a couple of weeks ago. B is still SO into the trains and he just loves watching them go around, and around, and around. He could stand there and watch them for hours I think.

They have a layout of the blue plastic Thomas trains that the kids can get down and fight over, I mean play with. Even though we have some of these at home, he likes to spend time with these.

They have tiny model trains and up to bigger ones that go on the floor. He likes to listen to the horns and whistles and some of them have steam coming out!

This table with the Thomas the Train is always a favorite. We spend most of our time watching this one go around the track.

He gets very excited to ride the train around the track each time too. Of course, he picked the blue car, just like Thomas!

When I need a little pick me up...

There are two little sayings that I like to remember when I get to feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or down about things. One of them I have on a little sign that hangs in our living room. It says, "Remember the day's blessings, forget the day's troubles." When I get worked up about something, I try to tell myself to remember all of the good things I have in my life and all of the many things I have to be thankful for. I think this saying gives me a lot of inspiration to look on the bright side of things instead of focusing on what I don't have.

The second saying I like to tell myself when I get so frustrated and worn out with raising our 3 1/2 year old son who is ALL boy, all rambunctious boy I might add! It is, "The days are long but the years are short." Sometimes I feel so crabby after a day of telling him "get down", "stop that", "be quiet", "stop running", "quit jumping off the couch" (you get the picture). I just can't wait until bedtime when I can go peek in on his peaceful sweet face while he is sleeping. I try to remind myself that even though the days sometimes seem to drag on and on until bedtime, I will wish I had these days back when he is running out the door to be with his friends or off to college, or starting his own family. He is my sweet little boy and I love him more than anything. I love the feel of his pudgy little hand in mine and I wish I could bottle him up and keep him little. There are just some days, long days, when I want to watch him sleeping sideways with no covers in his big boy bed. Quietly.

Do you have a favorite saying?