Fall is Coming...

I cannot believe summer is almost over. Luckily, we packed lots of activities into a few short months, so we had some fun.

Next week, Ashton will start KINDERGARTEN!!! I think he is looking forward to it, but we'll see how he really feels when it starts. He did a Jumpstart to Kindergarten program this summer and seemed to enjoy it, so I am hoping he gets motivated. Right now the biggest excitement for him is the school bus ride to and from.

Chloe has moved up to the Infant II room at school and is doing great. She gets bit by her "friends" a lot, but after talking with the "directah", there will hopefully be some better monitoring of that situation. She definitely needs some more teeth to protect herself. Can't believe she will be turning one year old in September. It doesn't seem possible. She still has issues with Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance, and she is scheduled to see a pediatric GI doc in September to give me some pointers. Hoping she will outgrow that soon.

Other than that, not a whole lot new going on. I will be starting a Zumba class next week, and I can't wait. I love it! I am also planning on being a sub for a Women and Wine bowling league team. I haven't bowled since before I had Ashton, so that should be fun interesting.

Jason is on his first vacation of the year this week. Can you guess what he's been doing? He is also really looking forward to something happening in October. I'll let you guess that one as well.

On that note, have a great autumn!

Vacation or Work?

This past Friday, Jason and I took the kids to Milwaukee for a two night mini-vacation. The plan was to go to the zoo on Saturday and then stop at a little amusement park on the way back home on Sunday. The plan seemed like a good one a few months ago. As the weekend drew closer, I started to get a sense of foreboding about it. Thinking of all the things I would need to pack for Chloe, bottles, dairy free food, lots of changes of clothes, pack n play, white noise machine, etc... By Thursday night, I was pretty sure I just wanted the weekend to be over.

Friday afternoon, we picked the kids up from daycare and a teenage looking girl was putting a diaper on Chloe. It looked a little bit loose, but I was in a rush, so I just grabbed her and put her in her car seat. As we stopped at our first rest area, about an hour and a half from home, I lifted Chloe out and thought she had wet through her diaper. Brought a changing pad and a new diaper into the icky bathroom and took her shorts off to find a massive poo explosion. Um, I have no wipes with me. So of course I look for paper towels, but alas, there are electric air dryers. GAH! Thank GOD for another mom walking past the bathroom with a diaper bag (must be nice to be all prepared and stuff ) that lent me a few wipes. After cleaning up the car seat, we were back on our way.

We decided to eat dinner at Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers, at the Friday's Front Row grill. Brewers were out of town so there was no wait. Took out my camera to see the message "Battery Exhausted" on the screen. DAMMMMMMiiiiitttttttttttt. It is a rechargeable battery so of course I had no charger with me. Thank God for my iPod camera.

Get back to the hotel, plug in the nightlight, the light bulb explodes. Thank God for the built in nightlight that was in our "executive suite." The room by the way, was one of the perks of the weekend. Had a HUGE marble bathroom, jetted hot tub, flat screen tv in bathroom. Just awesome. Anyway, getting ready for bed, Ashton slams the bathroom door into Chloe, who then falls face first on the granite floor. 20 minutes of screaming ensued.

Next morning at the zoo, we got there about 8:45am, for 9am opening. We didn't realize they wouldn't even open the parking lot until 9am sharp. So we sat in a huge line of traffic, while Chloe screamed since she hates being in a motionless car, for 15 minutes. The day at the zoo was uneventful and nice.

By the time 7pm rolled around, we had been in the hotel waterpark swimming and Ashton was being naughty, Chloe was ready for bed, and I was exhausted. I told Jason we should just get up in the morning and go straight home. He agreed. At some point between then and the next day, we lost our minds and decided to go to the amusement park anyway. It was nearly 100 degrees. Ashton had a blast, even though I tricked him into going on all the scary rides. Chloe on the other hand was a hot mess. She and I didn't have fun. We left the park, came home and I swear to God I have never been so happy to be home in my entire life.

**One irritating thing that happened throughout the weekend, was Ashton tripping on the sidewalk at the exact same spot at the hotel EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. we went to our car. Skinned knees, elbows, wrists, luckily he just got back up without making a big scene, but jeesh!!!!!!

Moving Forward

You know how a lot of people say things like "enjoy your kids now, because the time goes too fast" or "I miss my kids being that little"? Well, I agree that time goes by super fast, but I really can't wait until Chloe is a little bit older. Like 2 or 3. Past the teething stage where she is at now, making her a fussy girlie all day long.
I really enjoy the age that Ashton is at and love all the funny things he asks and says. I also love to tell him to go ask Daddy when he has some bizarre inquiry. And I am doubly excited to see how the two kids play when Chloe is a little older and they can interact even more than they do now. Chloe is almost walking, and will be 10 months old tomorrow. She still has no teeth, however, I think they are all coming in at once. She has been a bear the last few days. But she really loves it when brother comes into her room in the morning while I am getting her dressed. She screams and laughs and flails about. Cracks me up.

Next weekend the four of us will be going to Milwaukee for the weekend, and I am hoping we survive two nights in the hotel with a teething infant. Pretty sure we will all be exhausted when we get back on Sunday. I should really take a vacation day on Monday to recover from vacation. :)

My niece Shelby has started her own photography business, and she is awesome. She will be doing the kids photos next month and I can't wait. Go "like" her Facebook page and have your friends do the same. She would be happy to work with you to capture your memories.  www.facebook.com/ShelbyrRaePhotographs

I love love love taking stuff to the consignment store. I love taking a big pile of kids clothes and getting them out of my house, and of course picking up my earnings while I am there. Jason says that I buy things at full price so that I can sell them for a third of the price. He doesn't know.

So on that random note, farewell, and hope you are all having an enjoyable summer!

The Love/Hate List

Inspired by my day yesterday, I decided to come up with some things that I really love and really hate. For the sake of inclusion, we will add that my family and friends are all in the love category (most of the time.) Would love to hear comments on which you agree on! To be optimistic, I shall start with the loves:

THE LOVE LIST:


1. My alone time in the evenings after the children are nestled all snug in their beds (and the husband is safely tucked away in another room).

2. This one is new for me since they used to be on my hate list. Thunderstorms! Especially in the morning while getting ready for work or in the evening during my alone time.

3. Mountain Dew. This might be at #1, but I have decided it would be too difficult to put into actual order.

4. Movies that make me cry. Not necessarily sad ones, but ones that make me think of something or someone.

5. Having healthy kids. If you are a parent, you know there is nothing worse than a sick child. Thankfully, my experiences has been pretty minor compared to many, but I can't imagine the parents who deal with pediatric cancer and other serious illnesses.

6. Not having to cook dinner at night. Knowing all day that it is a frozen pizza night or eat out night makes my day!

7. The questions that kids ask. Randomly. For instance, one night before bed, Ashton asks what is a grave and what is a tomb. He then says that Jesus was in a tomb and came out. I tell him to ask daddy.

THE HATE LIST:

1. People who are jerks. Like people who say they need a job, so you help them get one, and then they get mad because they really wanted to just live on disability payments. Don't screw with the system...mmm k?

2. Murderers. Of course I hate all murderers, but the ones that really kill me (no pun intended) are the ones that kill people for $21 and a pack of cigarettes. Really? REALLY?? Is it worth that much to ya?!

3. The questions that kids ask. This is on both lists because sometimes there are WAY TOO MANY QUESTIONS!

4. When you order food from someplace, and there are not supposed to be onions on the particular dish you ordered, but when it comes, you can sniff an onion on it. For instance, you order a pepperoni pizza, and right in the middle is a chunk of onion. What if I were allergic to onions? What if I got violently ill from eating onions? And if it is tuna melt day at the lunch room, wipe off the damn grill before you make my grilled cheese sandwich. It shouldn't taste like TUNA!

5. My house when it is cluttered. I realize that when you have a husband and two kids, the house will looked lived in, no matter how hard you try. But I have this picture in my head of a house that is decorated really chic, doesn't have papers strewn about the kitchen counters, and clothes are not laying around on the floor. Is it too much to ask to just have a neat living space?

This list will probably have amendments to it as time goes by, but these are some things that really stick out to me. Agree?

Would you?

For some reason, I feel like I may have been shy when I was younger. I'm also pretty sure that that may or may not elicit some chuckles out of a few people reading this. However, the other day, it occurred to me that there isn't much I would feel dumb doing at this point in my life. So I have compiled the following list of things I may have done. Would you or have you done them yourself?

1. Put money in a soda machine in the cafeteria, have it eat your dollar, notice a table with three nice policemen eating there lunch, and go ask them for 50 cents. This just happened yesterday!

2. Snort grated parmesan cheese. This happened a loooong time ago, think middle or high school. It hurt like firey hell, but according to Clem, I did it twice, so apparently it wasn't THAT bad.

3. Tape a picture of your favorite congressman on top of one of your bosses family photos, covering his sons face? P.S. this person is a pretty big supporter of the opposite political party. Said photo was on my bulletin board the next day with a red push pin through his nose.

4. Repeatedly call your parents for a few hours, not being able to reach them. When they finally pick up, ask them if they were laying dead at the bottom of the stairs due to a tragic accident involving the "Shoes of Death" aka. Crocs.

5. Hang your bra out the window of a car while "cruising Grand." Again, this was high school, though I could probably be persuaded to do this anytime.

6. Take one of your guy friends bra shopping with you at Victoria's Secret. This was also high school, but he who shall not be named was a big hit there with the workers if I remember right. Almost as if he had been there before.

7. Help mop floors and close up shop at a place you don't work at because you have a giant crush on the boy who actually is employed there. I will not say when this was. Could have been 15 years ago, could have been yesterday...

8. Then there was a tampon/ketchup bottle incident at a restaurant that no longer is in existence. I wonder why they went belly up?

So anyway, I am hoping that my own kids one day aren't afraid to do some silly things, that they aren't too shy to speak their minds, and to be themselves. Kudos if you made it to the end of this!!

In the Beginning...

Since I love to write, and since I have a very bad memory, I have decided to start a blog so that I can not only share my life with you, but keep a "scrapbook" for the future. I recently found out that Mountain Dew may be the reason I can't remember anything, but that'll be another post.

The weather has finally warmed up here in good ol' Wisconsin, so that means that this weekend we will be participating, or spectating, a whole bunch of outdoor activities. Tonight was the big Harley motorcycle parade. Ashton and I love love love it! However, as I sat on the side of Grand Avenue in a lawn chair feeding Chloe her bottle, I did feel just a pang of white trashiness. Ho-well! It was worth it to see all those cycles and beep our horn at them!

Tomorrow, we are going to watch the Junior National Kayak competition at the river, and then to the big Shopko Plaza carnival. Don't get all jealous! Jason is already looking forward to squeezing his legs into the Dragon Roller Coaster with Ashton. Ok, that's a lie. But I AM looking forward to partaking in a funnel cake or some cheesecurds.

So that's what goes on in these parts as summer draws near. What will you be doing!?