Happy Thanksgiving! November 24, 2011

Hope you are all having a great turkey day! Here’s a song to get you in the mood:

And here’s a few of the things we are thankful for this year:

A Happier Halloween November 20, 2011

We love Halloween here in Munchkin Land, and so far all of our Halloweens have been happy. Still, it seems that with each consecutive Halloween things get a little jollier, a little more exciting, a little…happier. This year, Lucia received a bumblebee costume in the mail from Nanna Le Ann, so she was happy to buzz around in that. Dominic really wanted to be a ghost, which is a great idea but that also meant this momma was in store for making a homemade costume. And Nanna Barbie came out for the festivities again this year. Celebrating Halloween and having Nanna visit—it really doesn’t get much better than that!

We got in the spirit by visiting Uesugi’s Pumpkin Patch down in Gilroy. Brian carved the pumpkins this year, I roasted the pumpkin seeds, and the kids scooped the slop a little and supervised a lot. We visited Gilroy Gardens again, one of our favorite amusement parks, especially at this time of the year. We played mini golf with the kids and discovered that a three-year-olds version of mini golf consists of wildly throwing the ball towards the hole and racing to the next one. We jumped at the trampoline park near our house, Brian and I included. I’m not sure who had more fun, us or the kids. I do, however, know who was sore in the morning. Ugh! And for a grand finale, Princess Nanna, Viking Brian, Peacock Chris Ann, Ghost Dominic, and Bumblebee Lucia hit the neighborhood streets in search of candy. Yes, here we are:

I think the kids would have trick-or-treated all night if we would have let them. This is the first time we hit up almost every house on our street. If there was a light on, we rang that doorbell. Lucia was so proud to announce that she was a bumblebee to anyone that would listen, and Dominic was sure to point out from time to time that he wasn’t a real ghost. “See!”, he would say as he produced his hand from underneath his costume. They were so adorable, so excited, and so polite that I couldn’t help having more fun than I’ve had in a real long time. That’s the thing about having kids, every once and a while you get to feel like one too. And for me, it really doesn’t get much better than that. Here’s a bunch of photos. We got so many good ones this year!

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P.S. Nanna Barbie makes the best Mickey and Minnie Mouse pancakes!

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A FAVORITE THING: Other than Halloween? How about Christmas? What, too early?

A Top Ten List November 10, 2011

My apologies. Here are the top ten reasons why I haven’t been blogging lately:

• REASON #1—Snot, snot, and more snot. The Munchkins and I got a cold, a cold that lasted three weeks. Colds sure do make this mommy unhappy. And guess what, I still saw snot dripping from Lucia’s nose this morning! Really? You’ve got to be kidding me!
• REASON #2—Blame it on the DVR. Fall came and with it came the new television lineup. Brian and I decided to “try to find some new shows to watch.” Well we found many, probably too many. More often than not, I’m so exhausted when evening rolls around that all I want to do is curl up on the couch and reacquaint myself with my new friends….uh, tv shows. There in lies the problem. The ones that made the cut: Parenthood (although I’m sure Brian would like me to point out that only I like this show, not him), Up All Night (Christina Applegate and Will Arnett make a pretty great duo), Modern Family (yes, I realize we are late to the party on this one), and American Horror Story (a show that completely creeps me out, but I just can’t stop watching). And for the cream of the crop—The X Factor. Are you watching? I literally woke up on Wednesday morning and thought “Yes, it’s X Factor day!” I’m crazy I know, but seriously, how good is this show and how astonishing are the contestants? Yes, it can be a little over the top sometimes, and what’s with that stuffy British host anyway? Still, American Idol looks completely amateur compared to this show. My favorites, although they do change from time to time (another reason why the show is amazing with a capital A), are Miss Drew, who gives me goosebumps every time she sings, thirteen-year-old Rachel Crow whose voice and hair I marvel at, ex and hopefully never again burrito slinger Josh Krajcik, and that youngin’ with so much swag, Astro. I could go on and on. Oh, and what about Marcus Canty? So adorable, so energetic! I love him! Feel free to comment below with your favorites. And if you haven’t watched, I’ll catch you up with some performances from my faves. Watch, listen, love, and tune in my friends!

• REASON #3—You mean this blog isn’t about television? I got so excited there for a second. Moving on. At the beginning of the school year I volunteered to be a room parent for the Munchkins’ preschool class. They are in the Dragonfly Class, and my job is to be a liason between all the powers that be and the classroom parents. Basically it translates to attending a few meetings here and there, volunteering some of my time at different preschool events, and writing e-mails. Also, I helped to plan a party at the beginning of the year so that the parents could get to know each other better. It was held at a local park, and we had a blast. I now realize that planning games is the key to any party when it comes to kids. Here’s a few pics. Aren’t they all adorable?

  

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• REASON#4—Speaking of preschool, there have been two other related activities that took up a bit of my time. First was our preschool’s fundraising rummage sale which I volunteered my time to. When I first started scouring the house for donations, I thought I’d end up with only a few things. I mean what kind of resale value do a bunch of old VCR tapes really have anyway? Surprisingly though, a few days later I had a whole truckload of items to give away. Haven’t worn it or used it in a year? It’s gone! Gone! Secondly, since we are on the topic of preschool, the Munchkins and I attended a school trip to a pumpkin patch. Let me just say that preschoolers + a pumpkin patch = pandemonium. It sure was fun though. Here’s a few pics:

  
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• REASON #5—Did I ever mention that all I do is clean?
• REASON #6—Did I ever mention that I’m always tired?
• REASON #7—I’ve been hard at work redecorating our living area. Personally, I was so sick of living with childproof, worn furniture that I went a little crazy. I wish I had taken some really good before photos so that I could go all HGTV on you, but I didn’t. For those of you who have been to our house, it’s definitely a big change. Before, no furniture arrangement made sense, and it looked sparse to say the least. I made curtains, rearranged everything, reupholstered some furniture, got more seating, and I’m proud to say we no longer have any safety bumpers on our furniture:) It’s not perfect, but it’s getting there. Here’s a few before and after photos (the messy photo taken from my post back here). Next up, it’s time for a spectacular new playroom! I promise to keep you updated and take some good before photos so that I can really wow you.

  
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• REASON #8—I’ll come right out and say it. I’m addicted to Pinterest. Have you heard of it? Are you the kind of person who rips recipes, projects, and photos out of magazines just in case you might want to reference them someday? I was, and all of my clippings just sat in a disorganized heap. That’s so old school. It’s time to start pinning! See for yourself here.
• REASON #9—I’ve spent my weekends either working, relaxing, or celebrating fall with the Munchkins. The kids have been gaga over any kind of art project lately, so i took advantage of their enthusiasm. I offered them some fall-themed cookie cutters, paint, and paper. Which led to this:
  
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  And eventually to this:
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  One weekend we decided to try out a new restaurant here in town. It ended up being a lot fancier than we thought. No, really, check out the kids’ food:
  
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  And we attended a local carnival.
  

  Weeeee!!!

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• AND FINALLY REASON #10—Nanna Barbie came to visit for the Halloween festivities, and we had so much fun!

  However, I’m going to fill you all in on Nanna Barbie’s Halloween visit in my next post. Ooh, the suspense. I promise I’ll be back real soon. That is if #’s 2,5,6,& 8 don’t get the best of me.

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A FAVORITE THING: Angry Birds!!!! Nanna Barbie brought along her iPad, and Dominic got his game on every day with those squawky birds. Video games aren’t my thing, but I can positively say that they are Dom’s.

Down with the pigs! Hooray!