two reasons I laugh everyday.

Jack is a nut.

Thomas is starting to do this chinese talk. It seriously sounds like he is speaking chinese. He looks right at you and I am more than sure tells you to do something in chinese and then starts hysterically laughing. I sure wish I knew what he was making fun of me for! :)

Going going gone!

GOOOOO Phillies!

We let jack stay up a little late to watch some of the game. I was making Thomas' costume and micromanager jack was lounging on the chair and giving me instruction from a far. After all he is the most knowledgeable of all things super heroes. He was making us laugh so hard --Year 4 is so much fun.

chapel helper

Jack was the coveted "chapel helper" this week... and it was the SWEETEST thing I have ever seen. My little boy who is typically crazy as a loon all over the place sat so sweetly and was so proud holding the candle lighter. I know these pictures are terrible but I hope when this event has gotten pushed to the back of my memory I can look at them and remember the biggest smile I have ever seen when he saw us in the back of the church. I have been missing work a lot lately and days like this make me feel like being home is just right. for now.

There are many things that I love about Jack's school. His teacher is amazing. She reminds me so much of my aunt. So animated and sincere when she speaks to you and they are instilling such wonderful things in my child. As chapel helper it is his responsibility to help with the service and then as everyone walks out he has to look them in the eye and shake their hand. Do you think I could get him to do that at home? no way. no how.

at least it's not the swine.

ugh. Strep Throat has invited itself over for a playdate with everyone at our house. Now ALL of the boys have it. Jack was running around like a crazy person trying to convince me that he felt ok to go to his school Halloween party and Phillies pep rally. Mom and Er told me an unequivocal "NO" (I wouldn't have really sent him). I made all kinds of promises: Scooby Doo movies, popsicles for lunch, stay up late to watch the game... Anything to make him smile after the disappointment of missing a fun school day.

We are so pumped for a Phillies/Yanks World Series at our house! Jack will definitely be a little bi-polar as his favorite player, plays for the Yanks and his favorite team is the Phillies... I never knew I liked baseball this much... it's kinda fun. I guess I better get used to it, huh!?

Off to get my sickies down for LONG naps... did you hear that boys... LONG naps.

Can someone explain...

what in the WORLD a Bakugan is??? And why my four year old is obsessed with them?

Perhaps I should ask the older boys at the gym. Alls I can tell is that they are little balls that break open when you throw them. Seems harmless to me? I need to do some research.

I think I have successfully put the ka-bosh on the Nintendo DS Christmas Wish list item. There is NO need for a 4 year old to have a DS... even if it is used from craigslist.

since I no longer...

- suck on toys that have spent upwards of 8 hours on the gym babysitting floor...

- lick the glass doors, mirrors or parked cars

- eat off my neighbors plate at school

-touch every inanimate object that will stand still long enough between getting out of the car and getting to the classroom

- try to pick my friends noses...

aren't i too old for strep throat! Ahhhhhh. I don't remember strep throat hurting like nobody's business. But, let me tell you it does... there were definitely times in the last 24 hours that when I swallowed and felt like I had all Jack's play mobile swords lodged in my throat, that I thought I would rather be in labor (no joke, maybe I am being slightly dramatic, but i did think it!) I am not much of a medicine taker... but I think I have consumed more ibuprofen in the last two days than I have in an entire year...

Thank GOD for mom mom... She came just in the nick of time, fed and played with the boys while I took an evening rest and totally dodged the dinner/bedtime routine.

he's a big boy now

After a little apprehension... Jack just got picked up by his first "carpool!" No tears... just a "Hello, Mrs. D" big boy greeting.

I sure hope he doesn't say anything embarrassing in the car, like yesterday when I was carpool mom and he told C. he thought she looked scary at the book fair! EEK!

Cheers to me and three and a half full hours with my little man... maybe i can make some progress on this HOUSE!

tagged!

Biscuits Are Never Boring tagged me! Yay! fun, fun!

So here are the rules:You Can Only Use One Word!Pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers!Alert them that you have given them this award!Have Fun!
1. Where is your cell phone? Heaven-only-knows


2. Your hair? Brown-going-grey


3. Your mother? selfless


4. Your father? Ice cream lover


5. Your favorite food? Mexico’sQueso


6. Your dream last night? none


7. Your favorite drink? Water/splash-o’cran


8. Your dream/goal? Happychildren


9. What room are you in? family room


10. Your hobby? Sewing


11. Your fear? 1/2marathon


12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy


13. Where were you last night? fireside


14. Something that you aren’t? organized


15. Muffins? pumpkin


16. Wish list item? kitchen


17. Where did you grow up? college


18. Last thing you did? soup


19. What are you wearing? jeans


20. Your TV? View


21. Your pets? none


22. Friends? love


23. Your life? All-i-ever-wanted


24. Your mood? content


25. Missing someone? babyemerson


26. Vehicle? explorer


27. Something you’re not wearing? socks


28. Your favorite store? jcrew


29. Your favorite color? blue


30. When was the last time you laughed? today


31. Last time you cried? weekend


32. Your best friend? many


33. One place that I go to over and over? Y


34. One person who emails me regularly? Husband


35. Favorite place to eat? restaurant


I tag... McMommy, Domestic Diva, Donges Family, PaperCourt, Summer is a Verb

you can put it on the...

BOARD! Phillies win.

I was up way to late watching the Phils game. Jack is all about it - I even let him have a 'special night" and stay up a little late. I am sure I will be paying for it all week as he asks for "special night" each night going forward (ugh). But he is so into it and knows more players than I do! And his favorite Philly is Jimmy Rollins... has the 11 shirt and everything!

and the littlest philly fan.

first

first fire of the season.

I think my parents scarred me somewhere along the line. I can specifically remember sitting around with hats on to keep warm INSIDE our house. Now, the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree- cause I am doing that to my kids.

Holding firm on the November 1st "go live" on the heat. Fires are allowed. As well as heat, IF it gets below freezing... even I have standards. :)

the T is for Trouble

... this kid has more spunk and attitude than any 18 month old I have ever met. Must be the Irish in him. He takes his 4 year old brother on ... and for the most part wins.


Sometimes I put him in his crib while I brush my teeth and the like. Only safe place for this rugrat. This is not his brightest moment. Not by a mile. (I still can't figure out how he refuses to where pants in our house where the thermostat never really gets above 60 degrees these days).

It's feeling a bit like Fall!

... which means its time to make my favorite soup!

*pic courtesy womanandhome.com

Butternut- Corn Chowder (epicurious.com)

4 ounces chilled soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet), cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
2 large eggs, beaten to blend
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
4 ounces 1/4-inch-thick slices pancetta or 4 thick bacon slices, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 2 1/4-pound butternut squash, peeled, seeded, coarsely chopped
4 1/2 cups canned roasted-garlic chicken broth or low-salt chicken broth
2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chilies* -- i also have used a tsp of chili garlic sauce
1 16-ounce bag frozen sweet white corn (unthawed)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons minced fresh sage

Cut each cheese round into 8 wedges. Place eggs in small bowl. Place cornmeal in another bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Working in batches, dip cheese into eggs, then into cornmeal, turning to coat. Press cornmeal gently to adhere. Place on baking sheet. Freeze 1 hour.


Cook pancetta/bacon in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towels. Add onion to drippings in pan; sauté until just tender, about 4 minutes. Add butternut squash, broth and chilies; simmer until squash is tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Mix in corn; simmer until tender, about 8 minutes. Transfer 3 1/2 cups soup to blender; puree. Mix puree into remaining soup in pan. Season with salt and pepper. (Pancetta and soup can be made 8 hours ahead. Cover pancetta; chill. Chill soup uncovered until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Bring pancetta to room temperature before continuing.) Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add frozen cheese; brown well, about 1 minute per side.
Meanwhile, bring soup to simmer. Mix in sage. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with pancetta and cheese croutons.



I actually am too lazy to make the croutons so i just throw a big lump of goat cheese right into the soup bowl. Add a little crushed bacon and - Voila!

24

welcome to these 24 hours, ladies (and dad).... fyi, long post alert.

5:30 pm, Thursday- leave driveway for 12 hour drive to the STL (St. Louis)

5:32pm - (end of block - see previous post) - child chimes in with first "are we there yet?"

7:37pm - Phillies winning; Thomas falls asleep. Trip going splendidly, haven't even had to dip into my "treat bag", but where the "h" are we - don't people need gas out here?


8:15pm - stuck in a holler, no Phils reception, husband pissed....damn you "Wild and Wonderful" WV! I am thinking I sure hope I don't need the bathroom cause I haven't seen one for miles.


9:00pm - oldest child says, "Are we there yet?" as he finally achieves sugar low coma/sleep from Twizzlers, Scooby Doo, and Milk


10:31pm - O-H-I-O!! Yay Yay!!! Raaaaauuullll home run! Phils beating Dodgers.


12:07am - Phils still winning, excitment and convo with the hubs, apparently such great convo that Bambi wanted in.... THUD. Smack. Thud. Smack. -insert explatives--. Silence.


We hit a deer. A. big. giant. deer. Oh, snap. You know your spouse. You have your everyday voices and you have your "come running somethings on fire in the kitchen" voice, and you have your - "my dashboards lighting up with stuff that no longer works but I know your Irish so don't freak out voice." Guess which one AJ was using? Yep, the dashboard one.


We coasted for about a 1/2 mile. We coasted right off the exit ramp. By the grace of God, we were dumped into civilization. We looked around and we were on a well lit street. We looked further and saw the Fairfield Inn within walking distance (Bonus- can you say Marriott points!). AJ realizes that all kinds of fluid is leaking from the engine and using his "please don't freak out voice" says, get the kids out of the car and don't worry about anything else. WHAT!? So we grab the kids - PJs and no socks... no phone, no wallet, no COMPUTER! :) Did I mention it's like 40 freakin' degrees? Anywho we start walking to the Fairfield. Trying to keep the kids calm- oh we're just in a really big parking lot... lalala isn't this a fun adventure. (yep, super freakin' fun-can't wait to do it again....never).

Here's where I feel like I walked a fine line between crazy nut case and logical. As we were walking the maybe 1/4 mile to the hotel with our barefooted children, a "police man" in a Lexus stops us.

PoPo (showing badge): "Do you all need help, I am a police officer...i'm not on duty, but here's my badge"
Me: "Aj, keep walking."
AJ: "Kel, he's a police officer"
Me (thinking of the Elizabeth Smarts and Jaycee Voights): "OH, SURE HE IS... ALLLLL the police officers i know drive around white Lexus' at 12:30 at nite.... And, I think Jack has that same badge from the dollar store... (in fact, I think it is in his bag of treats!).
PoPo: How about if i call the local police and have them go to your car.
Us: Great, sounds perfect.


The kids -- who think it's morning-- and I get settled in the hotel and proceed to watch two hours of the disney channel (which by the way is on at 12-2 in the AM) while AJ goes and tends to the car sitch. You should see the deer.... We did or at least 1/2 of him.

The kids were so awesome. They were real troopers, we had no major freak outs from them. Just me :). They were troopers on the way out and troopers on the way back... Just proves how powerful twizzlers, scooby do and McDonalds Happy Meals can be.

We call her Shloopty... This was our phat (yep, that's phat with a PH) rental ride the good folks at enterprise "hooked" us up with. They're really snazzy out there in Reynoldsburg, OH. We call her Shloopty and she is THAT red.

5:30 PM, Friday - home again, home again jiggity jig. Just literally 24hours later, after driving to COLUMBUS, OH, hitting a deer, and joy riding back, we are back to our home. No visit with the cousins in ST. Lou.

As much as AJ and I have had many giggles about this experience, mostly to save us from going nutty on the fact that we drove 16 hours with 2 kids under the age of four to .... hit a deer.... I truly believe that God is present in our daily lives. Sometimes he makes himself more obvious than others. I am so thankful to Him for keeping us safe, providing an easy place to get to safety for the boys and a good samaritans like the po po to help us out and make us feel safe...

You know I'll be at Church on Sunday morning giving thanks, having a moment of silence for Bambi, and praying we don't get swine flu...

what did people do....

...on long car rides before mobile facebook???? (I can already hear my parent suggesting "read a book!?"- Gasp!-)

Apparently people in podunk Ohio don't give a hoot about the Phils game. Based on the muttering I have deciphered from my husbands rant... He finds this "aggrevating" (for lack of a better,g rated word).

The kids are being gems (natch)... Sawing logs in the back seat. I haven't even had to dip into my treat bag yet!!

Oh and never fear since the start of this post, we have found the Phils!! And they still have the lead... Wahoooo!

doesn't bode well

We weren't even out of the dang driveway before I heard my first how long till we get there. Ahhhhhhh maybe it was worth the dinero and a stop over to fly. St. Louis here we come. We might only be there for 12 hours before we turn around to go home, but here we come :)

Pray for me. Please. Pray. For. Me.

somedays...

I feel like I am one snarky comment and a bad haircut away from being Kate Gosslin. If I don't like yelling at my kids, then why does it feel like it is all I do sometimes!? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

It's feeling like a nap day here in PA!?

it's sad...

when you can say, "Yoga kicked my butt!", and mean it.

Namaste.

i must really want...

to make friends in PA. :) I have agreed to meet a new friend for Yoga tonight. I have done maybe two yoga classes in my life and I am so inflexible I can barely touch my toes. This should be funny, i mean, fun.

did i really just spend 40 dollars at the Dollar Tree?

I was pretty embarrassed at the total I rang in at the Dollar Tree today.... between the surprisingly cute Halloween decorations for our halloween playdate and compiling a goodie bag for our trip to St. Louis... I did actually manage to spend 40 bones at the Dollar Tree. 50% embarrassed; 50% proud.

we are planning for a trip westward to visit our cousins in St. Louis... sounds fun, right!? Did I mention we are driving... :) to be honest it still sounds fun to me! I am cautiously optimistic that because the kids have been in the car for long car rides from birth, that we will be ok... oh, that and a quick prayer to St. Christopher the patron Saint of safe (I think sane falls under safe, yes?) travel.

I have a corner of the guest room well stocked with snacks, coloring books, stickers, activity books, bag o' emergency goodies from Dollar Tree, this fun travel pillow, books on tape for the boys, books on tape for the mom/dad, books books books and movies movies and more movies. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to add benadryl to the pile- just in case. :)

breaking news....

Have you heard???? Obama wins the Heisman Trophy just for watching college football!

*pic courtesy sportscrack.blogspot.com

Heard it here first, folks...

**I really do try to keep my political views to myself...because I know not everyone agrees with my profound wisdom. :) But this I couldn't pass up.

public service announcement

Consider this your public service announcement for the week.

My boys are 100% boy. We get dirty at every opportunity. I try to see it as "creative" and not annoying. My mom had a special secret that Cascade (as in the dish detergent) took stains out of anything... But I think Cascade has met it's match with.... (drum roll please)....

Jack literally demolished a brand new pair of crewcuts khaki's at "the playdate" (you know the one that ended in spitting). Dirt up the front and down the back. OxiClean to the rescue- i am not lying... I feel like every house needs a bottle (or two) of this. And NO i am not getting paid for this (however, OxiClean feel free to send me some of the good stuff if you want! haha.) Literally, I sprayed it on... heard yelling and tackling from the other room and got distracted. Heard giggling from the bathroom- that was the oxiclean laughing at the grass stains that it was TOTALLY removing. Threw the pants in the laundry and Oila! good as new. It's magical, really.

I can't wait to try it on all the outfits Thomas ruined with his exceptional barfing skills month 3-12.

for the millionth time.

Dear Unknown Name/Unknown Number on my Caller ID,

You call at naptime everyday. Despite asking you everyday to take me off your distribution list, you continue to call! Everyday, I run around the house like a crazy person trying to find the phone to make it stop ringing before you wake up one of my monsters, i mean, kids. Today you caught me on the wrong day. Today I did not take my nice pill and I let you know "I have a 'you wake 'em, you take 'em policy' -- Please meet me at my house in 30 minutes for your turn taking care of my tired children." You thought I was kidding (or crazy). I wasn't. I wasn't kidding at all. My plan was to take them to run errands. It's not fun to take tired kids to run errands, so maybe you, Unknown name/Unknown number can come and watch them for me? Yes?

Oh, what's that? You are busy calling someone in California to wake up their kids... Grrrrrrr.

Please for the 10000 time take me off of your call list STAT! Before I really break out my mean mommy.

Smooches,
Mommy

this and that

- it probably doesn't say a whole lot about your cooking skills when your husband shows overwhelming excitment for (frozen) pizza night. Not that my husband has done this, I'm just sayin' ;)

- if I have said "wash your hands or your going to get swine flu" once today, I have said it 1000 times.

- Jack in his manolo's, i mean, cleats...

-tomorrow is phillies pep rally at school! Pep rally AND pretzel day! It's the little things people... the little things that make my 4 year old oh so happy!

oh my cuteness

are you melting like I was??? I think they were talking about it being a "rule" you have to skip around the garbage cans and what they were going to be for Halloween. Oh, young love...

so here's my question...

Where do you think the spiders go after I vaccum (spell check says that is how you spell vaccum - but sure looks funny to me) them up?

Are they having a little spider party in my vaccum?
Do they crawl back out and find a new corner of my house to make a web?
My vaccum isn't that powerful, so i am fairly certain that the suction isn't killing them... argument #1 for a Dyson....

I don't like you spiders, but you are a heck of a lot better than any other critter (like mice) that I can think of... so if you want me to vaccum up some beer for your vaccum spider party, I am happy to.

date day with my favorite four year old.

Jack and I had "date day" on Saturday. It was filled with (really a bunch of errand running, but it amazes me how fun it can be when you 1) call it a "date" and 2) only have one of the kids, specifically the one that can be bribed!) fun. We went to Einsteins for lunch, ran to the crazy Halloween store for the covetted Batman costume, a stop at the Learning store to make a project and shoot some suction cup bows and arrows (jacks dream- i am certain you will be seeing reference to this come Christmas time!), a jaunt to the mall for new Phillies shirts (Division champs, you know! I didn't, my husband had to tell me OOPs - updated: not division champs yet, playoff contenders! My bad! I better brush up on my baseball before my kids figure out i don't know a thing about it!) and to top it all off... a double header at the movies for Toy Story 3D! Perhaps if all my errand running ended with not one but TWO movies, I would have a better track record. I wish i had a pict of him in is little 3D glasses. Cutest thing EVER! And suprisingly enough he kept them on the whole time! We were going to end the day with this super sweet concert, but my buddy was so tired he fell asleep on the way home from the movies. I figured we would likely cause more attention to ourselves than not.

Not for nothing, but Toy Story 2 is WAY better than Toy Story 1. Just sayin'.

Always a Ying and a Yang.

We had a delightful morning chez P. We made the below to bring along for our playdate. I saw it on Hostess with the Mostess blog for a pink shower and thought it would be super cute for Halloween. Today was the perfect occasion to try it. Super easy and Jack even helped. All you need is marshmallows, lollipop sticks, those meltable candy disc things, and sprinkles. Seems like a lot of sugar to me, but the kiddos devoured them. Shocking... That's the Ying.

And for the Yang: The playdate was awesome and a great way to meet some of the other moms of kids in jack's class. It was mostly girls except for one other boy who had to leave early to pick up his brother. Jack had a great time. A great time until.... I should know better than to give a 5 minute warning... 5 minutes is long enough for something bad to happen. It should be two minutes or 1 minute or it's time to go - get your butt in the car (note to self no more 5 minute warnings). All of a sudden I hear a mom go "Jack whacked her." Well according to Jack he didn't whack her... HE SPIT ON HER! WHAT!? Who does that!? I was of course mortified. Thomas is running around like a freakin' crazy person... eating other peoples leftover food off the picnic table, spilling chex mix, trying to climb on chairs and just being a "hot mess" in general.... and now jack spits on a little girl. We're out of here. Who spits on people... if he squeezed the back of her arm, maybe, I definitely do that- we call it the "church squeeze" - the sit up and pay attention but I don't want to yell at you in public - "church squeeze" but spit? No i definitely don't spit on my children. So I am curious where he learned this... "Jack, where did you learn to spit on people." "Oh , I made it up myself!" Awesome. Please don't be so proud of your new skills. (In his defense i learned later that i think the girls might have ganged up on him and were saying, "no more jack no more jack," but please ever a good reason to spit on people. Disguting. )

Heaven help me.

its easy as cake.

As jack opened up his blueberry bar, he stated, "It's easy as cake!" He was all proud that he got it right.

I think what you meant, my friend, is that it's a piece of cake! cute none the less. bwahahahah.

advice

Dear Jack,

Perhaps you shouldn't make your mother crazy on the day she is going to buy your Halloween costume. You might end up with a Princess Dora instead of a super sweet Batman costume. I'm just sayin'.

Love,
Mom

the boys.

Thomas is getting 6 teeth. Grrrr.

*hmmm this might be the happiest he has looked in a week. Probably cause i am bribing him with a cracker.

Jack is revisitng behavior from Year Three. Grrrrrr.

*could jack be any more annoyed with my picture request... 4 going on 14.

Poor Tman.... I guess put your arm around your brother = headlock. I think since he learned how to go down one stair on his bottom yesterday (yes, we are late bloomers) next on the list is an old elbow to the stomach - so he can protect himself for the Christmas Card Pictures shoot! :)