worth the money

a few weeks ago i was regretting the fact that i had spent so much $ on the kids' halloween costumes. we (ok, it was me) decided to do a peter pan theme since it could be the last year that a theme was acceptable to my kids.

we already had captain hook, so i thought i could make peter pan & tinkerbell for cheap. surely i could do better than the prices at target. well...$60 later i left the fabric store and many hours of sewing later the costumes were done.

but i've realized that this was a great year to spend that much money on costumes. we have a total of 5 halloween parties/activities to go to, not to mention halloween night.

so i'm thinking that the ratio of costume cost to number of parties isn't looking all that bad!
p.s. contrary to what these picture show, garrett does like being captain hook. these pictures were taken a few minutes after he fell off a playside onto a hard gym floor.

a big thank you...

...to the fda. it was really a great idea to recall infant cold medicine. i guess i was just getting too comfortable with the convenience of the infant medicine dropper. two little squirts and ryan was all set. now ryan is enjoying the snot dripping down his face while i go in search of the conversion chart for the children's cold medicine. i just know that ryan is going to love how much of the "big kid" medicine he's going to have to swallow :)

you see, the recall isn't going to stop me from giving my baby cold medicine. i enjoy my quiet afternoons and my full night's sleep...i don't want ryan up all day & night cuz he's too stuffed up and miserable to lay down and sleep.

G is for Garrett...and T is for Teacher

ever since garrett started preschool, olivia has had a new mission in life...to teach garrett his letters. each week he has a new letter to learn and each week olivia provides him with lots of tutoring...

• she draws him pictures of things that start with the letter.

• she "reads" him books which consist of her pointing out specific letters that he has learned. if he gets the letter right, she'll say "good job, buddy!"

• she makes him repeat the sound of the letter all the time.

• she points out letters on boxes or containers of food...like the G on the Log Cabin Syrup bottle.

nothing is off limits. she wants garrett to be learning at all times. (unless, of course, she has him playing barbie dolls with her.) well, it's going to be a long road for garrett until high school graduation...but he might just be one smart kid!

honesty

this afternoon i got my haircut. the past few weeks i had been trying to decide what i wanted to do. keep it the same, or chop it off. well, since hair does grow i figured i had nothing to lose. i got it cut short. not too short, just about about chin length with a few little layers near the bottom.

when i walked in the door at home, all 3 kids stared at me. olivia didn't know quite what to say and ryan just looked at me like "where is the rest of your hair?"

garrett says "mom, why you have grandma's hair?"

classic garrett. he is totally honest and has no filter. his world is black and white. he says what he means no matter what. and truth be told, my mom does have a very similar hair cut.

tonight as i was snuggling with olivia in bed, she leaned over to me and said "mom, i love your hair." and that's classic olivia...she waits until just the right time to say something. it could be an hour later or even a week later. but she thinks about it and waits until she wants you to know something.

it's pretty funny how different both kids are. i can't wait to see what ryan has in store for us!

and yes, sarah, i'll post a picture...eventually...i know how much you love being patient :)

ryan's 1st haircut

all smiles, even though my hair covers my ears...
i have no idea why i'm sitting on daddy's lap in the bathroom...

haircuts are no fun! why didn't mom take me to a fun kids' salon
where i could watch elmo and play with bubbles?

happy & still curly :)

the photo shoot is done!
will the paparazzi ever leave?

5 yr olds are pretty smart

olivia: mom, do horses have belly buttons? cuz you know they don't hatch from an egg.
me: well, i guess they must have a belly button then.
olivia: ya, that's what i thought. i think i read that in a book.
(sounds like some good late night reading!)

the next day...
olivia: mom, cows must have belly buttons too...and dogs and cats.

then i got to thinking, can that be true? obviously they don't hatch from an egg, but how does the whole belly button/umbilical cord thing work? i'm envisioning a cat giving birth to a large litter...who cuts the cords? are they just left dangling around on all the baby kittens?

and what about animals born in the wild? and on those nature shows you just see the horse/giraffe/deer being born and immediately it starts walking around all on it's own. where is the umbilical cord?

well it turns out olivia was right and i was just over thinking nature.
click here for the explanation...

wow, i bet you are thinking this that is one of my best posts yet. ha ha! i know, i should write about more interesting things like my new addiction to boomshine (thanks sarah!) or post pictures of ryan's 1st haircut... well, ryan did have to wait 15 months to get his haircut...so you can wait another day or so :)

the big 3!!

happy birthday to a big boy who thinks he's spiderman!
we love you, garrett
xoxo

too funny!!!

happy birthday, olivia!!

wow, olivia is 5! we can hardly believe it :) we've had a busy weekend celebrating, with a few more parties to go. so far our festivities have included:

• having a friend over friday night
• dinner at the olive garden
• going to build a bear
• apple orchard fun (90 degrees & sunny!)
• playing in the pool (is it really october??)

thanks for being such a great girl, olivia! we love you so much!!! xoxo
stay tuned for lots of fun birthday pictures :)

why i love fall

there are lots of reasons why i love fall... new tv shows, the start of school, running outside in the cooler weather, the changing leaves, dark chocolate m&ms in fall colors...

but the #1 reason i love fall is apples...apple crisp, apple cider, apple spice donuts & apple orchards!! so here are a few pictures of our recent trip to the apple orchard. hopefully there will be another warm day to go back :)