Ditching

The best seats in the theater along with the best treats.
us ditching
my fast collection of bowls
1 of the leaks
the other leak

We've had a rough couple of weeks. First off - I was walking down the hallway and could hear a drip drip drip. I checked the bathrooms thinking that the kids left the faucet on but there wasn't any water dripping but yet I could hear the drip drip drip. I glanced in Natalie's room and there on her carpet was a little pool of water. I grabbed bowls and towels to catch it and made a phone call to Jason. I need to back track a little. In the spring we had the same issue with her roof leaking. Jason and Doug climbed up and tarred the roof where they thought it was leaking. Life was good for a bit but we haven't had time to fix it - thankfully! Jason came home and checked things out and made a run for Sunroc to get new tar stuff. While it was raining (loads of worry for me) he climbed up on the roof and covered the area again. We are crossing our fingers that this works. I'll let you know. Then that weekend through a long course of events (Dylan liking girls a little too much & night games with said girl...) we came to realize that my mountain bike and Dylan's mountain bike were stolen. It was a rough weekend. Dylan and I have had many chats about calming the testosterone down and the bikes being stolen just topped it all off. So, in an attempt to make peace I showed up at his school, took him out of class and he & I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. He thought I was the coolest mom ever. We had a blast - just the two of us. Here's to hoping that this week is a little more calm!

My little buddy!

Braxton is my own little ray of sun. He always seems to find a way to send warmth my way, either by being so super sweet and giving me hugs or pushing me to a boiling point. He has done both in the extreme this last week and I have to share. The first was a boiling point last Friday. He asked to go to a friends house just around the corner so I told him he could for an hour. Normally he is really good about calling and letting me know if he is going somewhere else. So... 6 o'clock rolls around and I send Dylan over to get Brax. He comes home alone saying that Brax wasn't there. So I text a couple of friends that he might have gone to and get replies back that he hasn't been seen there. Dylan was supposed to go to a friends house for a late night so I load him up and start driving around the neighborhood looking for Brax. We go to 4 houses with no luck and it's now 6:30'ish. My heart is starting to skip a beat and I can barely hold back tears. We call Jason and he is heading out to look as well. We try yet another house and Dylan comes back to the car with tears streaming down his face. No Braxton there either. The mom comes out to talk to me about it and I lost it. You know that ugly cry where you can't really talk and your shaking really bad- I did that. I know that every mom has done it so I don't feel too stupid about it. She was so sweet and wanted to help look. I decided to try one last option. It was the grandparent's house of a friend of his. We pulled into the driveway and their kitchen lights were on and blinds open. I looked and saw the best sight ever - the back of a head with glasses string hanging down. I started sobbing while Dylan went up to get him. He came running, knowing how upset we were and said he was so sorry. He forgot to check in. He stuck with me for the rest of the night. I didn't yell at him. I think my tears and Dylan's tears said enough. Although Dylan says we should have grounded him for life. He was just as worried as I was. It's hard to be a big brother and try to act like you don't really care but really you do. The second ray he sent my way was coming home from school with another tooth pulled out. Not sure what we are going to do with the little monkey but he is super cute. He was rewarded by the tooth fairy last night and he says he is saving to buy a new house or go to Disneyland. If only the tooth fairy could make it possible!

Fall Snapshots

We took the kids to the park in our neighborhood a couple of weeks ago and snaps some shots of them. They WERE NOT happy about it so the session didn't last long. I had hoped to have fall family pictures taken but time has gotten away from us and it just might not happen right now. Maybe winter pictures for this year??

A root canal and 5 cavities

Yes, you read the title right. Natalie had some MAJOR dental work done yesterday. It was a bit scary, draining and painful...and that was just for me :) Natalie hasn't been a huge fan of the dentist. She, after tears and bribes at our family dentist, finally let them take x-rays. She needed lots done and there was no way she would do it reasonably. I took her down to the pediatric dentist and he attempted to look in her mouth and came to the conclusion that there was no way she would do it reasonably so she needed to be sedated. We went in early and after screams, hair pulling, kicking and fighting she was forced to drink the good stuff and was out. I am amazed how fast it worked. They wrapped her up like a little mummy and went to work. I
think getting her to take it was torture but watching them drill and work on her while wrapped up and not moving was almost as hard. The dentist caught me wringing my hands and kept commenting on how well she was doing. They worked fast and got it all done in an hour. She started coming around when they were finishing up and I finally got to hold her. She didn't like her mouth being numb and wanted to look in the mirror at her new tooth before she zonked out for 4 hours. It was extremely stressful for me and I am so glad it's over - for now. The dentist called to check on her and I told him of her excitement to show off her new silver tooth at school. They were so great with her and I am so appreciative of them. I took my camera in with me but my nerves were shot and I couldn't take a picture until we got home. It was a rough day for us!

A Spooktacular Party

Dustin & Kellie had the family over on Halloween for a fantastic party. Kellie made it super fun for the kids. She had roast beef sandwiches for us adults and mummy dogs, witch fingers, monster toes, spooky rootbeer, and pumpkin fruit bowls for the kids. We had salads, chips, & yummy desserts. I even was brave enough to eat a jalapeno with cream cheese and bacon. Dylan got a kick out of it because Grandma thought her mouth was burning off. We ate, played games and just had a really fun night. Thanks to them for having us over!!!

lots of fun food
monster toes
pumpkin fruit bowls
witches fingers
being brave
Fun party!!

Goblins and Ghosts - It's Halloween!!

Halloween this year was super fun. We carved pumpkins with Jason's family the Sunday before. Jason & I were invited to a neighbor friend's party on Thursday. It was dress up, which I don't mind at all, but Jason would rather not. So he wasn't all that disappointed to be out of town working that night. I went with 2 other friends whose husbands felt the same as Jason. We decided to be the 3 good fairies from Sleeping Beauty. I made the skirts and we all put the hat and wand together right before the party. It was super fun to see the imagination of adults. Halloween night was full of rain, hail, cold and candy. We did quick rounds to see the grandparents before taking on the neighborhood. Jason took Brax & Nati just around our little block because of the wet and cold weather. Dylan went with some friends to fill their pillow cases. They ended up just hanging out at our house because they too were cold. We ran out of candy earlier than I anticipated so I taped a sign to the door stating the fact. I sat in the living room reading and playing with Nati & Brax and got to hear the disappointed kids walking up the steps, reading the sign, making some funny remark about how it's possible to run out of candy and then leaving. I thought for sure that some mad kids would destroy our pumpkins but, they were good and left them alone.

The collection of pumpkins.
Getting warm by the fire.
Chilled to the bone. Poor little girl!
Super cute!
The hobo
The spy
I love the cheesy smile.
Snow White.
Merryweather.
The 3 good fairies.
Decorating pumpkins.