the simple life

December 6---ME SCARED!

The day after E's birthday, we celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese's.  It was busier than ever, but we had fun.  I really enjoyed sitting and waiting on the pizza while reading a DIY magazine, because that meant that Dustin was watching all the kids...and I was sitting, enjoying a magazine.  The good life.  :D 

Ezra enjoyed calling Chuck E. on this toy phone.  He told him that it was his birthday and that he liked his hat. And then something funny happened...

Chuck E. SHOWED UP.

Chuck E. Cheese was walking around in full costume tonight.  Freaked my kids right out. 

I tried to act excited, but I was freaked out a bit too, to tell the truth.  I saw him approaching from some distance, so I pointed him out to Ezra and Ezra almost fell for it.  Ezra got a big smile on his face and said that he wanted to go give him a high five!

Big Chuck saw the kid coming and approached Ezra, and once he got closer, Ezra saw just how huge he was, and turned right around like a little animated character with a spinning wheel for legs and yelled, "ME SCARED!!!!"  

As long as Chuck kept his distance, Ezra was okay.  I told Ezra how awesome it was that he called Chuck E. Cheese and he came right over to visit!  We shouted to Chuck E. that it was E's birthday and Ezra asked him to sing him a song.  And then Ezra worked up some courage to give a high five and spent the rest of the night camped out by the stage like a groupie, waiting for the concert to begin.  (The Chuck E. on stage was mechanical, not the real deal, but E didn't care). 

(For the record, Annabelle saw Chuck E. and hid near the ball pit, Julian saw Chuck E. and turned right around and walked the other way.)

We had a great time.  Julian hit a big jackpot, and won 100 TICKETS at one time!!

A lady came over to compliment us on Annabelle.  Apparently she was giving her little boy free tokens when he ran out of his, and she was quite impressed.

I was feeling like a pretty darn good parent, when I heard squealing and screaming, and knew right away that it was Ezra.  I was sure that Security must have been dragging him off stage, but no, it was Dustin, dragging Ezra by one arm and holding a plate of birthday cake in the other hand. 

Silly me, I thought Chuck E. must have found some cake for E. but nope.  That would have been too easy.  Ezra saw another kid celebrating a birthday and helped himself by digging into the cake with his hand.  HIS HAND.  Embarrassing.  So embarrassing.  Dustin tended to him immediately and a lady called him out.  She said, "It's okay, he's just a kid!" and gave Dustin 2 pieces of cake to bring back to our table.

I was so embarrassed, and Dustin even more so...but we sure enjoyed that tasty cake.  I even thought about sending Julian over to dig another piece out!  haha! :D And hey, nobody was farted upon, so that counts for something.

When we left, 2 hours later, we found a Winter Wonderland waiting for us outside! If we only knew that this little snow was just the beginning...

OH! And look!  Ezra got his cotton candy!  Thankfully Julian won LOTS of tickets, and we only had to shell out 200 tix for that bag of sugary goodness.

December 5---the birthday boy wants a BIG BIG roller coaster

On Ezra’s 3^rd birthday, I greeted him with a “Happy Birthday sweet boy!  What are we going to do today?!?”

 He said, “I wanna ride a BIGBIG roller coaster, I want a real dinosaur and a real horse and some D-D-D-D-Dora stuff, and some cotton candy and treats and bubbles.”

 Quite a change from his standard answer of “A new glow worm and my OWN “Season”.  (Season is the name of Julian’s Seahorse Glow Worm that Ezra NEEDS to sleep with every night). 

As I was leaving to pick up his birthday gifts and cake and take him to the play area at the mall (where he would probably attempt to fart on another stranger), I saw our neighbor working on his car.  I pulled over and just let him know that it was E’s b-day and he wanted to ride a BIGBIG roller coaster, a REAL dinosaur and a REAL horse, among other things, and I’d appreciate it if he could make that happen.

He said, “Well, sounds like Ezra needs a farm.  He could raise his animals there, and build a roller coaster on his farm, like that one guy…” and went on to tell me about some man who built a roller coaster on his land.

Julian’s (my little builder/inventor)  ears perked up at that, and I heard him whisper to Annabelle, “Did you HEAR that???  We could BUILD a REAL roller coaster for Ezra! And we don’t have school tomorrow!!!” 

 Somehow I feel like tomorrow will be a struggle to keep my kids indoors during this freezing weather and not outside building a roller coaster out of cardboard boxes, shoe laces and broken tree limbs.

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(Ezra did NOT fart on any men at the play area today, but he did try to use a very tall man’s legs as a bridge to crawl under.  When I nipped that in the bud, the man said, “Oh, he’s not bothering me…”  And I quickly informed him that last weekend he farted on the last man that said, “Oh he’s not bothering me…”  The man laughed and said, ‘No way!?!” 

And I said, “Yes way.”  And the man promptly placed both feet firmly on the ground, ending that little game of “bridges”)

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Looking at baby pictures of my birthday boy and feeling the slightest twinge of baby fever...not like it matters, but still.  what an odd feeling. 

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Arrested Development Series

If I didn't already own this series on DVD, I'd swipe this deal in a second. Possibly a nanosecond.

Amazon's "Deal of the Day" is the entire set of Arrested Development DVD's (Season 1-3)  for...

$28.99!!!!

Are you KIDDING me?  That's a 74% savings! 

Dustin and I are HUGE Arrested Development fans, and quote our favorite lines DAILY.

If you are a fan of FUNNY, buy this for yourself or other funny loving people for Christmas.  You can thank me later.  ;) 

Arrested Development Series

I'll be back with a real post soon, I'm just spreading the word before this deal ends.  :)

December 4--my donut guy

After nearly 2 years of living here, Ezra and I found a Krispy Kreme today.  I felt two extremely opposite emotions at the EXACT same time when I saw that beautiful Krispy Kreme sign:  "OH Holy heck YES!" and "OH CRAP."

However, it's just inconvenient enough (far from my house and closes fairly early) that I won't make frequent visits (not like the one that was within sniffing distance of our home in Austin!) especially since I don't like to visit unless the donuts are hot and fresh off the "donut train".  :)

Also, I'm pretty committed to our current Donut spot, "Donut Hut".  When my parents were here, I took my Mom on our weekly donut trip after school, and the place was packed.  I've never seen other people in there when I was there, and the new owner was running around passing out coupons and being very hospitable.  He seemed excited.

A day or two later, I was at Old Navy and he walked in the door.  We both got big smiles on our faces and greeted each other.  (is it bad when you're recognized in public by a NEW OWNER of a donut shop?)  I was so happy to see him, I just wanted to hug him and introduce him to everybody around us as "My Donut Guy". 

I felt a little like my beloved Liz Lemon (30 Rock) at that moment.  And by the way, did anybody else HOWL with laughter at 30 Rock last night?! 

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Today, as I was taking Ezra's pajamas off to dress him for the day, he pulled away from me (in diaper only) and started dancing and singing, 'Boom Chikka Bow Wow, Chikka Bow Wow!"

Also, he's been talking about "Barkobama" (Barack Obama) lately, and I don't know why.  We almost never watch the news when the kids are awake and I honestly don't know how Ezra even knows that name.  Today as we drove past the Harley Davidson store, Ezra pointed and said, "There's Barkobama!"  I searched and searched and finally figured out that he was pointing at an American flag.  Apparently American flags are "Barkobamas".

December 3--snow + tooties

Ezra will be 3 years old on Saturday.  There's a lot of little boy excitement filling up my house right now.  :) Today, as I drove to Archiver's to use my 30% of coupon, he fell asleep in the car and when he woke up, it was just beginning to snow.

His eyes got so big, and he hugged me tightly as I took him out of his car seat.  "Thank you Mama!!! Thank you for my snow!!"  (sounds like "hnow" since he still doesn't pronounce his "s" sounds very well.

It's always so precious to hear the funny things that he thanks me for. 

I totally took credit for it.  I just hugged him back and said, "You're very welcome, Ezra.  It's for your birthday!"  :) 

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In other 3 year old news, it's like he's trying to cram all of his "terrible two's" into this last week.  I won't even list all of the chaos that he has caused this week, because I think it would reflect negatively on me as a parent (seriously!), but let's just say that he purposely farted on a stranger in the play area at the mall.  Among many many many other things.

In my memory, 3 was actually much worse than 2 for Annabelle and Julian, so I'm slightly dreading the wild things to come from this sweet baby of mine in the coming year...hopefully the sweet good stuff will outweigh the bad...

December 2--Where November went...

During my birthday month, we:

 

• Visited the zoo!  Thanks to the Des Moines library for the free kids passes! :) 

• Unknowingly locked my keys in the car, and had to wait an hour for Dustin to come bail us out.  Annabelle was sure that we would have to spend the night in the parking lot and was super scared.  Julian was super excited.  I was super exhausted.
  

•  I turned 30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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•  That's right, 30!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Went to the movie theater 3 times in one week!!  The last time I was in a theater was twice last November, to see Twilight.  Both times. <--- nerd.
• This time I saw New Moon (at midnight, of course) <-----nerd, Where the Wild Things Are, and the Fantastic Mr. Fox!   All of them were very happy making.
• Seriously planning a new tattoo.  For years I have always assumed my first tattoo would be on my foot, and now I’m thinking wrist.  I’m kind of excited.
• Cut Ezra’s hair.  I’m so sorry Ezra.
• Sewed a SUPER CUTE pink/plaid Christmas tree skirt.  Thank you ehow.com!
• Put my Christmas tree up, and the kids helped decorate.  So fun.  So far, only 2 broken ornaments.  Score.
• Have eaten a dark chocolate cherry Kashi bar and drank a blackberry IZZE drink nearly every single day for snack time.  Also, giving up soda. (again) Except for the kind that is mixed with liquor, of course.  ;)
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• Spent a LOT of time at Barnes and Noble.
• Earned about $15 in Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks.  I am addicted.  I have ordered 2 books (one for me, one for Christmas gift for kids) so far.  I’m ¾ of the way to my next $5 card.  If you sign up, please use my link here, so I can get more swagbucks off of YOUR earnings! :)  Hooray! 
• Hosted Thanksgiving at my house for the first time ever.  I highly recommend having your Mama prepare most of the food for “hosting-your-first-Thanksgiving-ever”.  It turns out much better that way.       
  
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• Pulled Julian’s tooth.
• Enjoyed a nice late night swim on one of the coldest days of this month.  Indoor, heated pool, of course.  Also: Annabelle nearly drowned. 
• Bonus: She didn’t drown!  Hooray!
• Lots of hot chocolate and marshmallows
• Not blogged.  At all, really.  And for that I’m sorry. I promise to be better in December.
• cut my hair REALLY short.  Or was that last month?
• missed you guys.  If we’re friends and you’re not on Facebook, why not?  That’s all I have to say about that.  ;) 
• Contemplating abandoning this blog, if only Facebook had some kind of archive system.  But they don’t, so I’ll have to be better about checking in here more often.  I already promised that, didn’t I? 
  
• Still loving Tumblr.
  
• Fixed my webcam, so I can take more silly self photos.  Like last year.  
• Bought a new hat.  I love it and wear it almost constantly.  But it won't work in a few weeks when I need something that will cover my ears and keep them from freezing and falling off of my head.                  

I love you, November.  You are a keeper. 

 

December 1--make SOMETHING

Bound and determined to make SOMETHING today.  I dragged a ton of junk out while watching The Biggest Loser.  I made cookies.  I always make horrible food decisions while watching that show...hmm...

 

In the end, I made a cute pink/blue themed garland, and another colorful paper chain for our doorway.The kids will help me make one more for the doorway into the kitchen. :)

 

Oh it's cute.  But I have a feeling that Ezra may tear it down before I even wake up in the morning...

"gimme" holidays

Julian and Annabelle were naming all of their favorite holidays as we were Trick-or-Treating the other night.  Christmas, Halloween, Birthdays, Easter, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving...

Realizing that Thanksgiving wasn't really a holiday where they received gifts or candy, I asked Julian what he liked about Thanksgiving.  Was it the family time, and seeing loved ones that we only saw during the holidays?  Was it time spent with favorite cousins?  

"Dessert," he said.  "We always get TONS of desserts at Thanksgiving".  

That's my boy.

Trick or Treat!

For Halloween we did homemade costumes.  The original plan was to buy costumes, but Dustin has had truck problems for the past few weeks, and has missed several days of work to sickness and no vehicle, so our budget was cut drastically to zero dollars. :)

I felt like I was in a bad episode of Project Runway yesterday, when I realized that I had an hour and a half to complete 3 kids Halloween costumes, with zero dollars.   Oh, and the models were terribly impatient, constantly interrupting and cracked out on sugar from the day's earlier Halloween parties at school.

Ezra's was fairly easy. My parents sent this Razorback football costume to Julian last year, obviously in an attempt to see him beat up by children in Iowa football costumes. Ezra's pretty tough though, so if anybody could pull it off, it was him.  The hardest part about this costume was finding the darn shoulder pads, which ended up being in a Goodwill donation box on the porch.  Thanks for that, children.

The only negative part of his costume was that the shoulder pads kept shifting, giving him the impression of having breasts under his jersey, and his chin strap itched him after an hour or so.  He ended up taking that off and using it as his candy holder.

Annabelle considered being a kitty, a princess (always), a vampire pirate, or a ghost.  We went with ghost, because I found a solid white bed sheet in a box of old photo props. 

During the "fitting", she could see easily, but add in rain and strong winds, plus people in the mall constantly stepping on her costume and shifting the eye holes, and she pretty much walked blindly all night.  At one point, we were leaving a house to walk back to our car, and Annabelle was "floating" sideways away from us.  She had to be maneuvered by Dustin all evening.  It was really precious. At the end of the night, she said, "Mommy, I know you thought I was jokin, but I seriously couldn't see anything all night long."  Poor girl.  She gets extra candy, for effort and good attitude.

After ripping up the bed sheet for Annabelle's ghost, we switched Julian's costume from "Spooky Chef"  (a chef outfit that came with our play kitchen + a creepy ninja mask from the dress up box) to a mummy.  It was awesome.  One older man commented after entering the mall, "Now THAT'S a mummy!"

We did have to stop and re-tie strips all night, and he had to be immediately CUT OUT of his costume when we walked in the door so he could use the bathroom, so this is definitely a one-time use outfit only, but it ended up being such a fun and somewhat easy to make (and free!) costume.

Happy Halloween!

Autumn