Never a dull moment...

What began as an otherwise uneventful day, has turned out to be quite hysterical. This morning the boys and I got up like any other morning, though much earlier as far as the clock is concerned, THANK you daylight savings time, grrr. Anyhow, -N- climbed into his chair at the kitchen table, said his prayers and ate his breakfast as usual, -A- ate his breakfast just the same and I fit in mouthfuls of cereal when the moment lent itself to me.

After breakfast we all headed in to get cleaned up, nothing particularly unusual about that. -N- came running out to the living room to make an attempt at putting socks on his feet while I changed -A-. I got -A- settled with some toys to bat at and then proceeded to our entry way coat closet to get shoes and coats, so we could head to the park to play. This is where our rather uneventful morning took a turn...

I opened the closet and reached as I always do to find myself eye to eye with a beady eyed little mouse!!! Now a mouse on the floor is no biggie, well for me any how. But when you find yourself at eye level with one of the little buggers, thoughts of them jumping and landing on you, ending up down your shirt or on top of your head begin to creep you out. So I did what any other self respecting scared out of her wits woman would do...I screamed, closed the door and called my husband. That's what you would have done right?

Well I did, at which point I realized how silly this had to be on the other end of the phone. I mean really, what exactly did I expect him to do? So after calming down and getting my wits about me, and figuring out my plan of attack, thanks to -B-, I hung up the phone. At which point I went to the garage, gathered wood to barricade the front entry and closed off the front entry way, as though the mouse on the top shelf of my closet could not possibly get over the 18 inch high boards I used, HA! I then got the broom out, opened the front door and the closet door...and got the heck out of the way, in hope that this little was as terrified as me and would go running to any exit to get away.

However, there was no mouse to be found, or seen at least. I used the broom to shuffle the coats, mind you still behind the barricades, and nothing happened. So I swept -N-'s shoes out of the closet, pulled his jacket on to the floor and beat them repeatedly, to be sure there wasn't a mouse hiding within, and I closed the closet door. I got a blanket, shoved it under the door, closed the front door and we left for the park with the little bugger trapped in the closet!

As we headed home, I gathered the nerve to attempt to chase this little rodent out of my house. I pulled into the driveway, opened the garage, grabbed my trusty broom and headed to the front door once more. I opened it, slowly pulled the blanket out and tossed it over the barricade, and opened the closet door. To my surprise there was still no sign of a mouse. I started at one end and shook and rattled each coat and still nothing. I knocked at each pair of shoes and nothing, I slowly began to take things off the shelf one by one. Three gloves and no mouse, one hat and no mouse, one back pack tipped upside down with two diapers, bum cream and a MOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!

I tossed the backpack and swung at the mouse with the broom, knocking it out the front door. Wouldn't you know that dang little thing landed and came running right back inside, with a second strike, he took off down the walkway and around the front corner of the house with me in pursuit...right back into my garage!!! Grrr, gosh you think I would have closed that dang thing after getting the broom, oh well, now -B- can set a trap in the garage and deal with it in there. As for the house, I have conquered that mouse, all 3 inches from head to the tip of his tail.

So here are some pics from the park, cause there was no chance of me waiting around to catch a picture of the furry little creature that about gave me a heart attack this morning.

Oh the Fun We Had...

I took -N- and -A- to the park to visit with friends and show off their costumes, -N- trick or treated, trunk or treat style at the picnic tables with his friends. Rhonda was at it again from http://www.snapshotsonlocation.com/ and set up a photo shoot for each of the little trick or treaters. So here is our "Cowboy" and his "Horse"...a few of my favorites!

And a few from the evening too...we went to a carnival for a bit with -G.G.-. -N- enjoyed answering the door and passing out candy more than collecting loot this year, not sure he understood that all the candy was going to be gone, but now that he knows, not so sure he'll pass on the trick or treating next year.and yes that is a mustache, Dad's idea.

Fall Traditions

So I am a HUGE fan of holiday traditions, and as our family grows and the kids get older, I will be unleashing all of the stored up ideas that may drive them crazy for a good portion of their lives, but will one day remind them of home, sweet home!

(ahaha, if they only knew my plan...)

So now to show you the things we have accomplished since the start of fall...

First, there was the Pumpkin Patch...we tried a new one this year and though fun it is nothing like the pumpkin patches back in Illinois. I want a patch, not a pad of dirt with pre-cut pumpkins lined up in a row, but I digress. We had fun hunting for the perfect pumpkins, from the rows and rows of pumpkins, see. We even went on a hayride. -B- had to work so it was the boys and I, on our own with some friends.

The next tradition we enjoyed was some good ole' fashioned caramel apples. Now go figure, the way to get a 2 and 1/2 year old to eat an apple without having to cut or peel it, is by completely covering it with caramel and calling it an apple sucker.

He ate it down to the very last bite, core and all, and let me tell you there was no stopping him either, just short of "taking candy from a baby"!

Upon finishing his caramel apple we moved on to baking sugar cookies with -G.G.-

The cookies turned out scrumptious and we had so much fun cutting,

decorating,

and most importantly indulging in the yummy goodness of said cookies.

and last but certainly not least in preperation for Halloween, let's not forget carving pumpkins!!!

-N- helped his Dad carve -A-'s pumpkin, because -A-'s not quite big enough to get in on the fun yet, but just wait until next year!

and here are the fabulous Jack-O-Lanterns

(mine and -N-'s is on the left and -B- and -A-'s is on the right)

Happy Halloween!

The Musings of a Two Year Old...

Each night -N- demands that I snuggle with him at bed time, mind you only after Daddy takes him in and tucks him in, I'm not allowed.

So tonight I walked in, covered him up and laid down to snuggle with him. Thus began his musings...these are the things he knows to be true and ways to prevent himself from falling asleep-

• I told Daddy I DON'T WANT TO GO PEEPEE
• My Daisy (our dog) didn't find any monsters, cause they are pretend and only I can see them
• My friend Aiden is scared of monsters too

I interject...monsters aren't real they are pretend so you don't need to be afraid of them and neither does Aiden. Continuing...

• My friend Aiden is my buddy
• So is my friend Bryson, he's my buddy too
• but Mel (their Mom) is not my buddy, she is just Mel (me-trying not to laugh)
• My Daisy is not a girl

Again I interject...yes she is.

• No she is not, she is a dog

...yes she is, she is a girl dog. I am a human girl, you are a human boy and she is a girl dog.

• nope Mom, she is not a girl just a dog and I don't like humans

...fast forward a bit and on the topic of Santa now, yes he is already being talked about here at the -G- household.

• Mom I don't like Santa, well I do but just when I call him Noah
• Santa looks like Noah from Noah's ark, but no one says I WANT, I WANT, I WANT to Noah

...so there ya go people. What will he think of next, don't worry cause I'm sure I'll hear all about it!

Pumpkin Painting with Friends...

Today we had so much fun! We invited some friends over and painted pumpkins for Halloween.

-N- couldn't stop talking about it all week in preparation for the big day and once it arrived he was thrilled to finally be allowed to paint the pumpkin that sat on the counter all week long. Here's the budding artist:

Then there was -A-'s take on things, for most of the morning he watched the excitement from the back of his eyelids like this...

but at one point he graced us with that wonderful smile of his, see...

I had more fun than anyone though, it took me right back to my teaching days, to have so many children running around and playing. This is how I get my fix, and I don't even mind the mess, shhh, don't tell anyone.

Making their Uncle Proud!!!

So today we took a trip to a local fire station and went on a tour. The boys' Uncle is a volunteer fireman in Illinois, so I thought it would be fun to take the boys to see what Uncle Mark does in his free time. So off we went with the MTM Playgroup.

The firefighters were amazing and spent so much time with all of the kids teaching them to stay low and crawl out of the house if there is a fire. Then they showed them around the station and let them look at all the equipment they use.

Firefighter Quick, took his time in putting on his gear to let the kiddos know that he is there to help. They saw him all decked out and even listened to the sounds he makes when he comes in to save people, so they wouldn't be afraid.

Here is Lieutenant Jason Quick:

and here is the ladder on the fire Truck, it climbed 12 stories high!!!

-N- was having a shy day, but let me tell you, he had no problem coming out of it once the guided part of the day was over, it took everything I had to pry him away from the Fire truck and Ambulance.

and for those who are wondering, yes -A- and I were there!!

Look...I have proof! (that's -A- all bundled up)

Thank you Lieutenant Quick and all the Fire Fighters over at Station 2 and a few from Station 1 too! You inspired quite a few future fire fighters today and made my boys' Uncle back in Illinois proud!

We love you Uncle Mark!

**A Special Thank you to Rhonda over at snapshotsonlocation.com for the beautiful pictures from today's adventure