School Halloween Party

Today was Thomas' Halloween party at his school. It was soo cute! they started off the day with a costume parade down the corridors, then had a halloween party in his classroom. There were other moms there to help out withthe party and crafts, and I was real glad i went. I was able to bring Thomas home earlly since the kids wouldn't be able to concentrate on annything but trick or treating later! Everybody had a great time!

Hat Day

I was cleaning the house today, and came across some hats and decided to pick on Brendan for a while as we got off to a bumpy morning where Thomas was yet in another one of those moods where all he wanted to do was play and insisted he didn't have school and wouldn't get dressed , and wouldn't finish his breakfast, wouldn't put on his socks and shoes and the clock was seemingly ticking faster and faster towards departure time to hop in the van and get to school! - Then we get in the van , and it's " I need my toys! " so we turn off the car and unlock the house and get his forever "blimp {which is a submarine} and airplane - the kid has THOUSANDS of toys but insists on these two items to play with that make the most racket- I swear I'm gonna drive off the road one day the way he plays in the backseat! Then I'm looking for my sunglasses , because the morning sun is KILLING my eyes !again- turn off the van, unlock the house, look for them , theyre in the baby bag I left inside- the right arm is broken by the ear- how the hell? sh-- whatever- I can't afford new ones and they still fit on my head so I'll make due. Lock the house. By this time its a quarter after. We gotta go. We're pulling out and he says" It's Hat Day today! Dude ! You gotta think of these things the night BEFORE! NOT as we're pulling out of the driveway! We gotta go.. so we go to school with no hat. I feel like a schmuck, but if we searched for one, We would'ave been with late the morning traffic as it is. Turns out we got there 8:35-with all the idiots tailgating each other- I dont like to risk things. So I gotta clean up before Tom gets home tonite and thought I'd take one last breather after my much needed shower that no one let me take all week! This one screamed blue murder all morning but is finally calm- all he wanted was company and a bottle. So we're playing a little dress up to calm both our spirits and pick us both up :)It IS Hat Day after all~! I know its cruel , but for some reason , I think he enjoys it! LOL Ahh my lil sidekick.:)

Stop Calling!!

I just put Brendan down for his nap, and for some reason, every non - profit organization keeps calling my house looking for donations this morning !! WTF? Thank you VERY @#$ Much for keep waking my son up people! If I want to donate to you and can afford it , I WILL! for now, quit calling my house! I got Kids Wish Network, Florida PBA, Firemans Fund, St Jude, and now that its election time, I got them leaving recordings on my machine- " this ones no good , " vote for this one for 2006" dont for get to vote for this one on such and such a such a date..' Shut up I know ! GAH! thing is ,I cant do the do not call, because I have donate to them in the past, and so theyre allowed call once you have done past business withthenm according to the "do not call"bilines andthe same goes for election time guys- its just for the telemarketers that can tcall that have to stick to the donot call list - everybody else is fair game- why bother being on the list? ugh. just venting.. Trying to get my son to take a nice nap and all these disturbing phone calls waking him up just arent helping making him cry every 15 minutes.;(

In The Air Again

Tom is off and in the air again. This time to a conference to Tuscon, Arizona. It seems like he goes on business, comes home, washes his clothes, catches up on banking,the football game and the mail, we go grocery shopping for the next weeks meals and supplies and he's offf again! I kinda felt bad for him this past flight whereas half the plane he was on didn't get their luggage back! HOW do you lose half a plane's luggage? That's beyond me! He has no luck when it comes to flying. He has flown in hurricanes, snowstorms, rain, wind, turbulence, had tornadoes touchdown while at the airport, barely got a car when the blackout hit N.Y. , had the NASTIEST people sit next to him and had the worst seats, had his luggage sent to a different state to where he was going, now had his luggage lost and had to have it delivered to the house.Now I find out this flight to AZ he had a military guy curl up in the seat nex to him and try and sleep and hang his head over the side and puke in the isle next to him ! Can you say EWWW??!! Then the airline Attendant tried to get him to fasten his seatbelt which he wouldnt and was just an all around beligerent passenger and had to be escorted off the plane by the fire department before all the other passengers could get off. You just can't make this stuff up! I tell Tom thanks that it makes for good Blogging material! ;)Poor guy can't catch a break. Then he gets to his hotel rooom and everytime he comes out of the bathroomhe's greeted by a spider! I would be freaking out the arachnaphobic that I am! He comes home on Thursday so he won't be there for long. He's at the conference all day long anyway. I told him to check his shoes for scorpions too while he's at it- Arizona is known for scorpions and black widow spiders to shake his shoes before he puts them on. I'd like him to come home alive and not in a bodybag thank you very much! This is his last trip for a little while I believe . It's just for a couple days , -not long. He always misses the boys terribly. They always go nuts when he returns- Especially the litttle one because he's not used to object permanence yet so its like a long game of peeka boo to him-Thomas he just wants to know and can't wait to see what daddy brought him this time-the greedy miser! ;) Didnt miss dadddy- just whad ya bring me and where's my toy? J/K I'm sure he missed him- he's just a toy collecting freak that's all. Me? I enjoy the peace and quiet and access to the computer! LOL but yeah I miss him but the separation is good for us so I actually don't mind us being apart- absence makes the heart grow fonder I always say. I go to church and say a prayer for his safe journey there and back and good health and thank God for such a wonderful man in my life who takes such good care of me and my family and is such a wonderul provider for us all. I do envy him a bit getting to travel to all these places I'd like to go to - but its not like he gets to sightsee or anything-hes holed up in a hotel room to sleep then goes to an office or conference room to work all day, then hotel rooom, then airplane back home to here. Maybe one day when the kids are older we'll travel a little or FINALLY take our Honeymoon we never did.. But for now all I can wish is that he comes back home safely and has a safe trip as always because his idols miss him very much and can't wait to wrestle with him again :)

Pumpkin Festival

Today we went to the Hunsaker Farms Pumpkin festival .There must have been about 30 acres of land that had everything from circus acts, to country music bands playing,to hayrides,and games and food from BBQ to seafood with drinks to match, candy apples to funnell cakes, to bouncers and rides to ponyrides and facepainting to giant frog jumping contests . There was a farmers market and craft fair,cloggers and petting zoo, chainsaw sculpter,and train ride for the kids with oil drums cut in half with steering wheels put on and made into a long train and pulled by a tractor- too cute! There was something for everyone And of COURSE there was the pumpkin patch that Thomas picked out a beauty just before we left that he just HAD to have made into a jack -o-lantern before the night was through! . The weather was just GORGEOUS- A bit on the hot side, the next weekend would have a costume contest, -I'm glad we didnt do that , because if this Indian summer weather keeps up, the kids would just ROAST! There were some people already being carted away in ambulances because of the heat , and Thomas was smearing his face paint because he was sweating so bad- never mind adding a halloweeen costume on top of that! Was a real nice Saturday outing. A day so nice , everyone is turning in early from all the fun. Gotta love those kinda days!

She's Baaaack

I was looking out the door before, and noticed this Florida softshell turtle that keeps coming in our yard when ever it rains - {or lately whenever}was back again. Its really an ugly thing! But who am I to say- God has lots of ugly animals, But they all fulfill a purpose the way they're built that makes them so odd looking. Anyway, this thing drives me nuts! It runs over my Heliconia plants in the back corner of my yard, flattening them when it crawls under the fence to come in, I had Gladiolas too which he /she used to flatten as well. So today I looked out the door and saw It was back AGAIN. This thing has been put in a box, brought back across the street to the pond where it came from, shooed back under the fence, - gotta watch it because it has a neck a foot long with a temper to match.It will bite if provoked so I keep Thomas away from it n& just show him it from afar. So today I took my camera and decided to follow it. I noticed it was scooting away, {they're pretty fast too. It stopped under the boat trailer and decided to dig a ditch and tuck its head in HUH! looks like this one id a mommy turtle and wants to lay some eggs under our boat! No No NO !Not there dummy !We ever want to move the boat { which we will since this things going up for sale SOON.! We don't need any baby ugly turtle running arounfd the yard! Oy vay! What is this Turtle Bay? First snappers, then painteds, now ugly Softshels- gotta get rid a the pond - must be whats attracting them..

Cravin' The Sauce

Ever since the Rib Crib closed down it's location by us, Tom has been TOTALLY bummed every time we drive by where it once hung it's sign. Granted it wasn't there for long, And from what we knew didn't seem to get alot of business because when ever we used to go in to pickup our orders there never seemed to be alot of people inside,and when they were closing, their sign said "negotiating contract-be back soon!" or something to that extent then the next week had no sign up- we were like what the? Oh NOOOOO! and when it first came to town, we mocked the hell out of the place going" Rib Crib? what the hell kind of name is that? But Oh Man! was their food good! and the sauce !OH! That's what Tom is mostly upset about is that he can't get their sauce anymore.. I had their packets in my crisper in the refrigerator, and when we were forced to get the BBQ up the street { My man HAS to have his BBQ fix for football you know! } I'd find a leftover Rib Crib packet lingering in the back of the crisper and he'd come running goin' get outta my way! LOL was too funny! Now I just found A leftover takeout menu in my junk drawer and found Rib Crib's website on it- seems you can ORDER their sauces ONLINE! I think I just found one of Tom's Christmas presents :) He's a bear about finding Xmas presents or draggin it outta ya though so maybe I'll hide it at His mom's .But cool deal anyway! and 4 bucks for 18 oz jar? Deal! I'll buy a couple for that price for how much he likes the stuff!Wheres my Visa card? Now, what do I want? The age old question....

Lil' Swinger

This morning I took Brendan to the park after I dropped Thomas off at school. we went for a walk on the trails, then stopped off for a little swing action. { I know, you might be thinking - isn't he bit SMALL for the swings? } actually- he LOVED them! he sat up fine, and held on to the triangle part, and had the biggest smile on his face! we played peek a boo, and "im gonna get you.." - he had a ball! I don't think he wanted to leave! But I still have some leftover housecleaning to get done before Tom gets back from his business trip from Virginia - Yup he 's gone AGAIN. It's been an awful quiet month . A week in Kansas City, then a week home, then back again, then to Virginia , then next week to Arizona.He's only home on the weekends for me to do his laundry , then off again. - like having a 35 yr old College student! Only past the college and doing the job part- you what I mean ! Well It was hard leaving He had such a nice time and he looked so cute on the swing. I guess I know what I'm getting for Christmas for the swingset in the backyard- another swing seat so he can swing now! Thomas seems to have stopped using it for a while, maybe if he sees his brother using it , maybe we'll get some more use out if again !Hmmm.. Since he loves playing with his brother so much.These two are quite a pair neve rthought I could love them as much as I do. Just too cute for words.

Award Day

Today was Thomas' awards ceremony at his school for the Kindergardeners. They had awards for merits for effort, and attendance, and they give out certificates for cupcakes and pizza and free games for bowling at the local bowling alley and pizza at the pizza parlor and cupcakes at the local supermarket {Publix} for initiative- The Kids were so cute and so well behaved. I felt bad for one boy In Thomas' class- His mm showed up late, and dad couldn't come so he was in total tears! Thomas was looking for me the entire time until he FINALLY looked to his LEFT and saw there I was and I waved and he breathed a sigh of relief cause he saw how upset his friend was and was getting increasingly worried himself I saw. then turned and became involved in the ceremony. -Too cute. I was in the corner because I had Brendan with me in the "cadillac" and didn't know where to park him in the cafeteria so I was kind of off to where the rest of the parents were.Anyway, I'm very proud of him, he's doing much better in school since the year began. He's had his first quarter review already and it was a very good one. He's going to do very well There I think.

First Toofie!

Today as I was feeding Brendan his lunch, I noticed he kept sticking his finger in his mouth and was really irritable- moreso than most days. He's usually pretty fun to get along with. I knew he was hungry, and usually , once you pop something- ANYTHING in his mouth, he shuts up ! This time - uh uh. so I check out his mouth , and lo and behold I see a little bit of white sticking out ! My little peanut is got a little toofer comin in! It seems just about right, because according to my baby book, Thomas was just about the same age- almost EXACT when he got HIS first tooth- 7 months- give or take a week. Brendan will be 7 months in 3 days. He was real up set - thank goodness I have some baby Orajel around - I picked it up last month because he was drooling like a son of a ... I knew it wouldn't be long so figured I better pick some up just in case- Good thing I did ! Today he just seemed unbearable. Like the Orajel wasnt working- I have a teether too, but he wanted no part of it, I tried a banana in one of those mesh feeding bags- that seemed to help some- it was food and soft - easy on his gums- I tried Ice in the mesh food bag, uh uh - didnt like that at all, so we went back to the banana. Then later we went to religion class. I volunteered some and explained I might have to leave due to a teething baby, but B was pretty good- he held out for 45 minutes, then got hungry and tired and noisy, so we left- only had half an hour to go. Not bad. My lil Bombino Brendini's Finally gettin Toofies! So the journey begins! Again.

I Pledge Allegiance...

Today at Thomas' school, Thomas Got to say the Pledge Of Allegiance on the T.V in front of the entire school. He was chosen by the Media Department and was recorded and broadcast for all to see. After I dropped him off at school, I was also going to volunteer at the book fair at 9:00. I had to drop the baby seat off at home,in case Tom needed it since he was going to watch Brendan for a couple hours while I volunteered at the school. When I got back to the school, I missed Thomas by like minutes- I was so mad! Lousy freakin trucks! If I have to get stuck behind one more truck in traffic I'm tellin ya it'll be too soon! I swear they see me comin and Boom! get right in front of me and drop 30 MPH! I hauled Ass to get to his school back in time for the Book Fair, but if I would have gotten there earlier, maybe I could have seen Thomas give the Pledge of Allegiance address in The Media Center where I was doing the Book Fair. Darn. They said He did an awesome job though. said his head looked really round on the screen- like 10 pounds was added- so I guess the camera really DOES add 10 pounds like they say! If only it was permanent- He could use a little weight on him the bagabones! LOL We both had a great day My lil boys a Media man now ;) said he liked being on T.V. Who knows, maybe this could be the start of somethin..

Give Him His Toy!

The other day I was in the store and bought a little toy for Brendan that caught his eye.since then, Thomas has NOT left this toy alone! Dude, you're a little too old to be playing with this age group of a toy,but ever since I got pregnant with Brendan, Thomas has been FASCINATED with baby toys! I think We took away his baby toys a little too prematurely when he was younger or something . Like- ok, youre not 6 months anymore? lets move on...and donated them- and gave him older toys. Now that he sees Brendans toys, He loves playing with him. So Now Brendan has this musical Stacking toy- He had the same thing when he was a baby, just not so flashy, and now won't let Brendan play with it- So now Brendan got all pissed. I was like Give your Brother back his toy! The expression on Brendan's face breaks my heart he was in tears! 5 times I told Thomas Give Your brother back his toy dangit! Youre to old for that! Tell me the toy stage is not starting already. - I was hoping this much in age difference I wouldnt have this problem... but I guess I will. Only it seems backwards- the older one wants the YOUNGER ONES toys , not the other way around,- Ahh well.. thats the logic around my house. -*rolleyes* Such is my world.That's what keeps it fun around here.

Van Repairs

Yesterday morning I was driving Thomas to school, when I'm backing out of the driveway, and my van stalls and dies on me! WTF? I coast into the middle of the street and was like okayy... I put it in drive, try to give it some gas, nothing. I try reverse, nothing.I try to start it. Nothing. What the hell's going on here??! It's a new van for Criminy's sake! I just got it a month or so ago! Ok, 3 months, but that's neither here nor there. Thomas now is getting all upset going"we're gonna be late for school!" and starts crying."No one's gonna be late for schoool" I said as I flag down my neighbor leaving for work and ask for a jump- he obliges and as I get my cables out that I've never used before- theyre brand new that I keep in case of emergency in a kit that I have in my car In case of breakdowns and such_Tom thought I was nuts but HAH! here we are- I told my neighbor " lemme try one more time just in case so we don't damage each other's cars in case its nothing, and the darn thing fired back up again and started! I was like "what the??" and felt like a jackass in front of my neighbor and apologized but thanked him all the same. Then today I took it to my dealership and told them what happened, and they took a look at it for me first keeping it for the day and sending me and the kids home in a courtesy van - that was no picnic- bringing a stroller, a carseat, an infant carseat/w/base plus 6month old and 5 yr old because he had no school today. Then around 430 they picked us up again with a courtesy van when the van was ready - stroller, carseat, baby, carrier/base, five year old and myself all packed in to get my van and when I found out the price to pay for it? My jaw hit the floor!! 434.10!! I was like in shock! I said "what did you do??" I said "All you did was put new spark plugs in right? Thats all my husband authorized you to do ...." they said "yes that's right" so I said "so where did the rest of this money go to? " they said " that was the labor". Again shock. Who charges 352 .00 for labor???! I asked "how much were the spark plugs?" she said "48.00."I said "hell I coulda bought those!" I said I had a coupon for 10% off service and she rolled her eyes she had to ring it all up again - it saved me 40 bucks - whoopee- the price of the spark plugs! So now my grand total was 394 .64 - Those spark plugs better have been dipped in gold for THAT price! That's what we get for not buying the extended warrantee! A repair bill out the you know where! And for what? A misfiring engine from sparkplugs.They wanted to do a tune up, but that would cost 700 dollars! Thanks but what do I look like ? A money tree? I'll take it one thing at a time thank you! If I can fix it CHEAPLY at home I WILL thank you! 352 .00 for labor - never heard of such highway robbery in my life.. If I wasn't going away up north for Christmas I'd tell you to go take a walk... *mumble grumble mumble..352 dollars.....mmmmmm*