Coffee with Friends

A few friends and I met at a local play place for coffee this morning to kcik off our Friday. I love getting to the place early - before the 10Am crowd starts arriving. It's quiet and the kids have full run of the play area which gives the grown up time to catch up and chat before we are dealing with "That boy took what I was playing with!" "She won't share with me!" and "I'm hungry! Can I have a cookie?"

Nothing like coffee with friends.

PS...told you I'd post a picture of my coffee! :)

Make Your Own Build-a-Bear

Apparently my daughter is in love with Build-a-Bears and since I won't let her just live at the store making all the furry friends she wants, she is coming up with creative ways to make her own. The other day she had a bunch of toys out and was dressing them up in her My Little Pony dresses and accessories. Her Swim to Me Pup was decked out in Kaylen's mittens, scarf and hat. As I watched from the doorway I heard her say "Oh you are so cute! Let's go so my mom how cute you are!" She looked up, saw me watching her and broke out in a gigantic smile. I love when she is so happy and I love watching her pretend play and be so creative.

I love the squirrel in the skirt and the hoppy frog in the hat. :)

Never Too Early

Santa is laughing for real because as Kaylen is whispering her Christmas wish for an American Girl double stroller, Kelton is whispering "I don't know what I want. I'll need to send you a letter."

Sweet!

I love, love, love this one. It shows all their cute little freckles and their overall cuteness just bubbles through. These are two of the three faces that light up my world.

This one doesn't need words but if I had to pick one I'd say: Love. These two adore each other.

Germ Adventure, Part 10000000

I woke up yesterday feeling just fine. I went about my morning routine and chores and then Kaylen and I headed out to MOMS Club. We were there for about an hour and a half and I swear to you - I felt completely fine.

After we left there I stopped at the post office and then we headed over to the high school where Kaylen attends her preschool class. We were there about 20 minutes early so I returned a call to Dakota and we caught each other up on our mornings.

It was then I noticed it. A not so good feeling in my throat. A bit sore but not too bad. I shrugged it off and walked Kaylen into her class. I drove over to the bookstore to pick up the next book in the Jake Drake series for Kelton and as I searched the shelves I made a note that my throat was getting worse. Hmmmmmmm.

I bought the book and then headed over to Target to pick up mittens and hats for Kelton's Warm Hands Warm Hearts drive at school and a 6' folding banquet table for the PTO (great sale! $32!). I had needed two but they only had one. Oh well. Then I picked up a pair of stretch pants and a shirt for Kaylen. Yes - you read that right. PANTS! She is trying something new this week and I am all about encouraging it. The thing is - we don't really have pants that fit her since I stopped updating that part of her wardrobe when she decided she was anti-pants.

My throat, by the way, was getting more and more sore. By the time I arrived home, 1 hour after dropping off Kaylen, I felt like I was trying to swallow cut glass.

The thing about pain like that is it forces you to stop thinking of other things and makes you live right there. Right in that painful moment. No worries about laundry needing to be folded, no thinking of unloading the dishwasher, no worrying about bills or student loan payments. Nothing besides "How do I make this pain stop? Why is it shooting up into my ears? Oh crap! MAKE IT STOP!"

Have I mentioned before how sore throats are probably the worst thing for me to deal with and considering how much pain I get to live with every single day of my life, that's saying a lot. I'm not sure why or where it comes from my sore throats are really, really awful for me.

The achy-nes in my neck and shoulders arrived before I headed over to pick Kaylen up at school. Perfect. I do not have time for this. No fever though so it's just one of those pesky viruses that need to run its course.

I continued on with the afternoon (like I had a choice) and before long, Kelton was home and it was homework time. Then Dakota arrived home and we got busy making dinner, cleaning up and getting Kelton to karate. Home we came and to bed went to the kids. I popped the Motrin and was soon in bed.

The night was hit and miss on sleeping and when I got up this morning I noticed that the cut glass sensation was gone and I just have a sore throat (so much better than yesterday!). My neck and shoulders are still achy and I don't feel great but at least I can function.

My guess is Kelton's doctor was right. He picked up something and passed it along because Friday Kaylen was saying she had a sore throat (but Tylenol seemed to make her all better and I'm never sure if she really has pain or if she just wants some medicine. Don't ask. We are constantly asking "Are you *sure* you need medicine?"). Now though, I do believe she actually did have a sore throat and I feel bad for not putting much stock in that. *sigh* Now she has a cough and sounds a bit congested (again) so I'm betting that's the road this will take for me too.

I'm beginning to think our house is a toxic zone and we just can't get rid of the germs. I've even opened up the doors and windows in an attempt to get the fresh air in and the germ infested air out.

I've heard from others that this is a bad germ year. I have to say - I'm not so much enjoying it. :(

A Long Time Coming

You have no idea how long I have waited to see this:


Kelton, happily snuggled into a pile of blankets and stuffed buddies, reading a book on his own. This scene is akin to Christmas morning for me! For years now I have waited and longed for the day when he would sit next to me: me reading my book and him reading his. He's been a great reader for a long time but he hadn't really found the joy of of just sitting down to read for the fun of it. In the past couple of weeks he has and it brings me a level of happiness I cannot explain.

We have read him books since before he was born and rarely have we missed a day in the past 7.5 years. We love to read and we hoped this love of reading would trickle down through the kids and now that it has started....I'm over the moon!

My kid loves to read! My kids loves to read!

I'm not silly enough to think that a love of reading will overshadow his love of his DS or Wii but I'm hoping it goes right to the top of the list to share equal billing.

Watching the kids grow bigger and older is bittersweet but this? This is the sweet part!

YAY! Read on, Kelton!

Crazy Little Elves

The other day we were at the mall and the kids noticed that Santa had arrived which meant, of course, they just had to stop in to visit.

After talking with Santa, they were given "elf ears" and I have to say, they wear them well. :)





Kaylen's party dress? Why yes, that was the attire of the day because....well...just because she is Kaylen. :) I have to say though - if we were having a Christmas party some of the recent pictures I took of these two would make some darn cute Christmas invitations.

Which reminds me...I still need to figure out what, or if, I am going to do for a Christmas card this year. I'm not all that into the hours of work that goes into getting Christmas cards and the annual letter out (nor the cost of mailing them!). Maybe I'll do a web-based card and letter this year. Or...maybe I'll just skip it all together. Time will tell. :)

Christmas Pajamas

Yesterday afternoon I took an hour to myself and headed to a nearby store to check out a few things. First up was a set of dishes that I have my eye on. Another store had a similar pattern on a sale and I wanted to compare it to the one I had seen a couple weeks ago to decide which one I liked better (because you know....my birthday is coming up...and I would love to have a dish set the matches. Over the years we have lost plates and bowls and are now down to three plates of one pattern and three plates of another. Having four matching ones would be nice. I've also been wishing for some cute martini glasses. Not boring ones but fun, sassy and maybe, just maybe polka dotted. A girl can dream, can't she? :) ).

After that I wondered over to the kids clothing section to see if something caught me eye for the upcoming visit with Santa. Hitting two different areas I noticed something - there were matching pajamas in Kelton's size and in Kaylen's size! The kids have never had matching jammies for Christmas and BONUS! They were on sale. Double bonus: I found it in a nightgown for Little Miss "It Has To Be a Nightgown or I'm Not Wearing It".

I picked up the correct sizes and headed home. The kids LOVED them and couldn't wait to try them on. Here are a few pictures I snapped last night - the kids were absolutely wild and crazy but I still got some pretty fun shots.

I have to say - I think they look adorable!







That last one is my favorite. It shows them in all their silly glory. :)

Unlikely Places

Sometimes you can find great quotes in unlikely places. This one comes from the theme song to Waverly Place, a Disney Channel show that we watch every night as a family (and we all enjoy it!).

Remember not to mess
with the balance of things
because everything is not
what it seems.

Perspective is an illusion.

My Crocs Are Here!

The mailman brought a really great surprise - my Crocs!! According the the tracking, they weren't scheduled to arrive until Tuesday and yet - here they are!

And I have to say - they are C.O.M.F.Y.!!!!!

No really - I do believe these may be the most comfortable pair of shoes I have ever worn. We went grocery shopping today and, for the first time in a couple years I made it through the entire hour plus shopping trip without pain searing down my leg and up my back (and everywhere in between). I was still doing ok by the time we hit the checkout stand. A nice change to be sure. :)

I might be wearing these shoes more often than I had planned.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Dakota and I went to see The Time Traveler's Wife this afternoon at the "cheap seat" theater. I've been wanting to see this moving since it first came out back in August but hey - better late than never. :)

I loved it. Really loved it!

We have the book and Dakota has read it but I never made it too far into it. I'm not sure why but short attention span comes to mind. :) I now really want to read it (never mind that I have two books going already). It has been on my mind since we left the theater - I have so many questions. We went out and got a bite to eat after the show and we talked and talked and talked about it. We compared it to The Lake House which is another one of those time traveling type movies which we loved so much we bought it a few years back. So any guesses what we are going to do now that the kids are sleeping? Oh yeah - we're going to pop in the The Lake House and watch it.

Gotta love the movies that make you think...and I love the possibility that things like that could actually happen.

Two thumbs up! :)