Happy Halloween!!!

So after a month long of sewing....this is the result. The kids couldn't have been more thrilled. Aidan was just excited to have a sword. He has not taken his costume off since halloween by the way. Olivia told everyone we saw that she was a cupcake with a cherry on top and Kelsee told everyone who took a picture of her to make sure they also got the back. I think we need a little more humility around here. So the kids are still running crazy on a sugar high. It was a gorgeous night. We just wore jeans and t shirts and most people sat outside to hand out candy. Al got called into work. As for me, I spent the night chasing two 3 year olds who kept going different directions all night and joining other parties along the way and for some reason thought the street was the best place to be. I was just relieved to have everyone home safe that night.

We sure missed all of you and are looking forward to seeing all of your pictures

Thank you Cheryl for going to the trouble of sending the tights even when the whole fam was sick. They were the perfect addition to Kelsee's costume even though you can't see them in the pictures.

Love you All!!!

Who does this?

Who gets up at 4:30 a.m. and drives 45 minutes away to run 20 miles....that's right, Ido. I know it is the craziest thing and swore I would never do it, but it finally happened. I live by a bunch of great girls who run the marathon every year and they finally talked me into running it this year. So I have spent the last several months

dragging my tired butt out of bed every morning to run what feels like an endless amount of miles. Luckily the company is great! This is a picture of us (minus Laura...she is the smart one who is sleeping) in the wee hours of the morning at the top of the course before we started my first 20 mile run. We really should have taken an after shot.

So training has not come without it's pains. I have had

major shin splints, a knee injury, massive blisters,

ankle and foot pains and the best one of all....lost 3

toenails. Yep, I'm looking pretty hot right now.

The amazing thing though is I have learned what

sounded so impossible (26.2 miles!) is something that

I can actually do.

This is a picture of what I live in these days...my running

shoes, garmin watch, i-pod and knee strap. Unfortunately

I can also be seen all over town in work-out clothes with a

salty sheen covering me

The marathon is this Saturday and several of my sweet

family and friends are coming down to cheer me on.

Wish me luck!!!

I loved It!!!

It's a fact...I love American Idol. From beginning to end it totally entertains me. I just have to say that was the best American Idol finale I have ever seen!! Every performance last night just got better and better and the contestants this year were unbelievable, but my favorite part by far last night was "bikini girl". Now I will give it to her, she is a pretty girl and she has a great body, but when Kara stepped out and put that poor girl in her place she had no idea what happened. She was so flustered that she stopped singing but would pipe in every once in a while with an off note. Kara sounded amazing and to top it all off she looked amazing too. Did you happen to notice the end when Ryan was talking about her doing this for her favorite charity and "bikini girl" is not so slyly checking Kara out up and down?

Darth Vader No More

Most of you know we have affectionately nicknamed Aidan Darth Vader because he sounds so awful when he breathes After a year of his snoring getting worse and worse and him sounding like a pug dog when he is in a resting state like watching TV, it finally hit me that maybe his tonsils had something to do with it. The doctor had never said anything about them being big before, but I decided to take him in and have them checked. Sure enough that was the problem. The ENT said, "oh my gosh, they're huge! The poor kid can barely breathe." I didn't even realize how bad it was until we went to California last month and we shared a room with him. Neither Al or I got any sleep. I don't know how poor Olivia has done it all this time.
So we took him in to get his tonsils and adnoids out the end of March. He is terrified of doctors even if they aren't touching him so you can only imagine how well he handled all of this. He has let me know in no uncertain terms that he never wants to back to the doctors house (the hospital) again!
He had a rough week and was drugged up on loritab non-stop. You know he's not feeling well at all when he puts himself down for a nap, but all the sudden he was back to normal and now I have to get close to him and listen for his breathing when he's sleeping. It's amazing what a night and day difference it made for him. The craziest thing about it all is that his voice sounds so different now. I keep waiting for it to go back, but maybe this is how he sounds without a huge obstruction in his throat. Thank you for all the sweet little gifts and cards and treats you sent to him. He was so excited about all of them. Olivia was jealous enough that she was willing to get her tonsils out. We are so lucky to have the best friends and family. The only issue now is he thinks he can have popsicles and ice cream for all three meals.

Remember When?

I just had a flashback today. Kelsee has been impatiently waiting her turn to be a lunch worker. That is one of the perks of being a forth grader. She came home from school with a little glow about her, so excited that it was finally her turn to help this week. She then gave me the play by play on how it all went down...she had to put a hair net on (boys got paper hats) and big plastic gloves and then they got to put on plastic aprons which she informed me "we throw away and get a new one the next day". She then told me with some disappointment that she handed out the cartons of milk today and "most everybody asked for chocolate, but every once and a while a first grader would ask for white and I would put down the chocolate and grab them a white one." I could instantly picture myself in grade school in my plastic apron and hair net and how excited I was to be a lunch worker.
She has told absolutely everyone she's seen today about her most important job. She is so hopeful that she will get to use a scoop and serve food tomorrow. We are crossing our fingers for her that it works out and she doesn't end up on dish duty. Who knew it was so cool to hang out with the lunch ladies?

It's the big 3 (times 2)!

Well, we rushed out of one holiday and right into the next. Aidan and Olivia turned 3!!! They were so excited for this birthday. They are starting to get what it means and that they get presents and cake. It was all pretty low-key, but they're not old enough to know the difference yet. We just had a few people over for dinner, opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. They were so excited about their cakes, I think it was their favorite part. I did a guitar for Aidan because he is so into them right now. He will even play his "air guitar". And I did a purse for Olivia because she has to carry one with her everywhere we go. I think I need to come up with a cake that works for both of them next year. I love coming up with the ideas and creating them, but this was a little time consuming!
This year was the most challenging and yet the funnest year with them yet. They learned how to tag team in order to create more mischief. I am running morning til night cleaning one disaster after another. They have learned how to blame each other. They have learned to run in different directions so I sometimes have to choose which one to run after. And they have decided they don't require as much sleep as they used to. But they are each others best friend and will take down anyone who tries to mess with the other one. They are talking non-stop and are say the funninest things (appropriate or not). And they make me happy I'm their mom everyday!
We can't wait for what's next....hopefully Aidan being potty-trained. According to him big boys do wear diapers and there is nothing wrong with that.

Rock Bottom baby

I got the funniest call from Al the other day. It's no secret he has a really crappy job right now and he is doing his best to be happy about having it. He gets to do fun things like scrape slime off produce rack at the grocery store, fix the handicap carts, and any other maintainance work at the stores around town. So he was at Lowes standing over a super smelly trash compactor trying to fix it when he looked down and spotted what he calls "a gold mine". He called me and said, "you know you've hit rock bottom when you jump into a trash compactor to fish out hundreds of little knobs that the hardware store is throwing away." One of the guys he works with walked past, saw him in there and yelled at him to get out, but Al convinced him to help him haul them to his truck for a cut of the profits. Anyway, we now have a huge tub in the garage that he is sure is worth a pretty penny.... All I'm saying is don't be surprised when you see a listing on KSL for cabinet knobs. I love my sweet husband for all his hard work and enduring this crappy job so I can stay home with our little monkeys.