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Saturday morning view. I love when fresh snow covers up all the flaws in our lawn.

Updates at last

I've had some requests for updates. Mainly from Carly, but that's cool.

We had preschool conferences a few weeks ago. Carly's teachers described her as a "social director." They also mentioned that she's the kind of kid that "would be fun at a party." As a parent of a 3 year-old, I thought that was sort of cute. Later that night, when I thought about what that meant for Carly's future, I had a panic attack.

Teddy is fascinated with putting things in containers and using utensils. As Carly mentioned to Nana on Thanksgiving, we are used to the boys in our house (Greg, Sully) being very messy, so this gives me hope that he will join the Clean Team (I'm president). He is a terrible eater, but just plop a tomato wedge on a fork and he will flash his million dollar smile and throw it down the hatch. His obsession with the trash can, while fun at first, has completely lost it's entertainment value. I'm fairly certain we've lost a toothbrush, a few packages of instant oatmeal, and at least one book to it. And Teddy, I hope you are listening, this does not help your candidacy for the Clean Team.

Sully continues to be an overly-energized pain in the ass.

...cont.

Did I forget to mention that Carly went as a butterfly cowgirl magician? If nothing else, the girl has her own strong opinions.

T-dog was happy to be an octopus. Even if his costume was dirty as hell after biting the pavement a few times, he wore that bad boy like a champ.

Guest Blogger: Carly

A Halloween story, in Carly's words:

Once upon a time, there was a witch, a good witch. She blew away with no broomstick. She said "why is the broomstick so fast?". The wind was blowing hard and hard. Then it got sunny. There was a rescue frog named "Ga" and Ga was on the broomstick with the witch. The witch fell on the ground and that hurt her. The rescue frog's house is in Mexico. The rescue frog and the rescue Carly saved the good witch in Texas because she was on the ground and her hat blew away.

THE END.

She's Crafty!

Oooooh la la! I bet you are thinking that this little crafty Halloween owl cookie lollipop delicacy is the work of my creative direction. You are dead wrong. Carly brought this little gem home from preschool today, only further reinforcing my insecurities in the area of all things crafty. So, it is really no surprise that Halloween costumes stress me out. On one hand, I love the idea of spending hours putting the perfect finishing touches on a simple (yet brilliant!) homemade idea. On the other hand, who needs to spend $75 on materials and then spend hours sewing or, in my case stapling, an ugly outfit together.

The Halloween excitement began early this year. I blame the ghost display at the library, but it just as easily could have been the candy corn I was forced to rescue from CVS right after Labor Day. In any case, we have been discussing Halloween costumes every time Carly gets knee deep into her dress-up clothes, which is daily. Of course, she doesn't think any of her dress-up clothes are good enough to be Halloween costumes, so this has been a hot topic. About three weeks ago, I began to get nervous. Old Navy costumes were selling out in her size and we had no concrete concepts. Dr. Carly Quinn Medicine Woman? No. Ga? No. Super Carly? Definitely not. But, then one evening before bed, she finally announced that she wanted to be a monkey. Sweet! Ahh, not so fast...the next morning, she declared that she would be a butterfly. At this point, the important thing was that I knew she had a vision of herself as a successful trick-or-treater buried deep within. We were moving in the right direction.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, when I decided it was action time. I began trying to get a final answer out of her, which was tough. Finally, one morning while getting ready for preschool, I told her it was time to make a decision. I needed to put the wheels in motion. After much deliberation, she announced that 2009's Halloween costume would be......a butterfly! Off to school she went, and off to find wings I went. I scored. I found $6 wings and came up with an idea for creating a fuzzy butterfly body and antennae. As a bonus, the butterfly wings came with a butterfly wand. We were good to go.

That is, until I picked up Carly from school. When I announced that I had wings in the car, a major meltdown ensued. MAJOR. "I want to be a monkey!!! I am goooooing to be a MONKEY MOMMY!!! NOT. A. BUTTERFLY!!". As the temper tantrum escalated, I decided to sweeten the deal by bringing out the butterfly wand. I could see the temptation in her eyes...the girl wanted to play with the wand. I mean, who wouldn't? It had streamers, sparkles, and a sweet little butterfly at the end! She grabbed the wand and I brilliantly suggested that she could be a magic butterfly for Halloween! No dice. A butterfly magician!? Not happening. So, I did what I had to do: I sent her to her room to calm the sobbing and I went downstairs with Teddy to reevaluate.

So, about 10 minutes passed and slowly I heard the crying and hysterics come to an end. There was some shuffling in her room. Then I heard the pit-pat of feet coming down the stairs. Carly confidently walked into the living room, grabbed her wand, and announced, "I know what to do mommy. I'm going to take my magic wand and I will turn my butterfly costume into a monkey costume!". Round one: Carly.

to be continued...

Teddy on the Move

It has been a long *ss time since my last post. I commissioned a guest blogger and he really let me down. We'll call him "Craig". Thanks a lot Craig. Anyway, hope this video fills you in on what's been going on here. I've got a funny Halloween tidbit that I'll post this weekend, along with some pre-Halloween pics. In the meantime, TGIF everyone.

Summer '09

How do I begin to describe part two of our summer travels (two of two, but wouldn't it be great if there was a part three, Greg!)? We started off with a week at the P's house. Carly attended bible camp daily with her cousins (amen to that $45/week fee!) and Julie and I got some much-deserved sister time. She talked me into a new blackberry and a new favorite Starbucks beverage. I talked her into a third frozen margarita.

And, let's just say that the P's backyard "playground" and basement full of transportation toys (I thought it would it be weird if I said "boy toys") made quite an impression with Carly. Teddy was impressed with the lush basement carpet for his crawling knees. As they are prone to do, they both settled in quickly with her cousins.



It was also very cool for Carly and Teddy to have the opportunity to spend time with their great-grandma Rita. Carly has some of Grandma Rita's spunk and a lot of her sweet tooth tendencies streaming through her veins.

Carly, Grandma Rita & Katie:


Charlie, Nick & Grandma Rita:


Katie, Gram & Teddy at Gram's new digs:


After the week of Bible camp ended, we took off up north for the Rock. I had hoped to post new pictures of us enjoying the beautiful scenery and beach on a daily basis, but we ended up indoors for a huge portion of the trip. Damn the weather gods! Did Carly misbehave at Bible camp? So here are my random selections...

Say "hi" to the Hay Monster at the end of our street:


Here we are making the most of a rare beach day.




And fast-forward two weeks when we were all glad to have the P's arrive for some playmates.






Harbor Days 2009, highlight of the up-north summer. We began with the festival. The kids loved the rides. Those of us who took physics- even the high school version with Sister Agnes- were terrified, but this was no time for focusing on the rusty nails, so-to-speak.



The parade was a drown-out, but the sun came out in time for us to have a party back at the Rock. And party we did. Here's a picture of the next generation of the Acme Athletic Club:



But the candid shots say it better...









Then we had another week of bad weather, Greg saved himself the return trip, and we said goodbye to Northern Michigan's summer.