Halloween - Smiffy Style

Hello faithful blog followers (that I had to e-mail because it's been so damn long since I blogged!). Hope this finds you all well and enjoying fall (or the beginning of winter if you're in Alaska).

Performed the annual ritual of carving the pumpkin last night - with a new twist. Proving that anything done with a power tool is more fun, Dustin "carved" our pumpkin with his drill. This was quite fun for us spectators as pumpkin guts sprayed all over. However, the boys had chosen a slightly more intricate design this year, a bat hanging from a branch, so Dustin still had to put the finishing touches on with his super-duper-schmooper sharp knife. The end result was quite impressive.

We also talked the boys into actually making costumes this year instead of going to Walmart and just buying a pre-made costume. Connor will be an alien and Austin will be a vampire bat. So the other night Dustin applied a TON of HVAC duct tape, which is very shiny, to a vest, pants and baseball cap. The baseball cap was also adorned with the requisite alien antennae made from aluminum foil on top of springs. Austin and I cut out some bat wings from brown material and sewed them onto the back of his vest and his shirt sleeves. I then sewed some "ears" onto his brown baseball cap to top off one very adorable bat ensemble.

Finally, my friend Nicole and I planned our strategy for Halloween night. We've chosen a neighborhood to "attack" and Nicole dug out the thermoses for some hot chocolate with peppermint schnops! Halloween will be fun and warm for the adults as well as the kids this year! I'm actually really looking forward to trick-or-treating!

Happy Halloween! :)

Mooseless No More

The "curse" is broken!! I can now confirm an actual moose sighting (by me personally!) in my neighborhood. Several days ago my husband called me about a block from our house and informed me that he had just passed a momma moose and her 2 babies. He takes great pleasure in telling me these things as he knows it makes me crazy. However, today I was over at my friend Nicole's house (just 2 houses down from mine), when I looked out the window and low and behold.....momma moose and her 2 babies! It was AWESOME! Then just a couple hours later as I was driving home from the store I turned onto my street and there they were again! Apparently they like our low-key neighborhood. I feel that now I have "truly experienced Alaska" and must no longer carry the shame and sadness of being mooseless.

Yours truly,
Moosestatic in Alaska

Short All Over

As many of my friends and family know, I am short, or what I like to think of as "vertically challenged". In addition, I have been doing some self-evaluation lately (mostly while I'm on the toilet) and have come to discover that I am also short on patience, short on time and short on energy. Thanks to Darwin, I understand that my "shortcomings" have caused me to evolve and adapt. Instead of just being short, now I'm a "multi" too. I can multi-task on multiple levels while using my multiple skills to fit in multiple naps! While this does require some ambition or motivation (or whatever dirty word you want to use) initially, it does pay off in the end - the short end I'm sure.

The Family That Coughs Together.....

Is it possible for just one family member to get "a little cold" and not give it to the rest of the family? I think not. For example, 2 days ago one of my sweet little 6-year-old virus incubators came down with a pretty good fever. By yesterday morning we were all feverish, achy, sneezy, coughy and yup, dopey. Last night as I lay in bed trying to decide if I would rather die in a fire or floating on an iceburg in the Artic Sea (not too far from here you know), I heard the dog start to make that wonderful gagging sound that every pet owner loves. Sure enough, she puked on the carpet. When it rains, it pours.

Luckily, I am happy to report that this morning all of the kids seemed to feel better, especially Austin because the tooth he's been working on for 4 weeks finally fell out in the middle of the night. "Why didn't the tooth fairy come?" he asked - to which I was tempted to reply, "She came down with malaria somewhere over Africa."

The Waiting Game

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted, but since excuses are like...well, you know what they're like, I won't make any.....right now anyway!

At any rate.....

I noticed the other day that Noah has 2 new spectators each time he's placed in the highchair. Beanie and Mac (i.e. Hoover and Dyson) reacting to the sound of the tray snapping into place, take that as their cue to "assume the position" and patiently await their gifts from "heaven". (see example below).

Fortunately Noah hasn't figured out what they're doing there yet and started to feed the stinkin' beggars, but I suppose it's only a matter of time. It's hard for me to feel anything close to remorse about them 1) eating table scraps 2) begging and 3) licking the highchair as I feel that we all benefit. Noah can be as wild as he wants with his food, Mom doesn't have much to clean up and the doggies get a regularly scheduled Scooby Snack!

Noah and the Mouse

It's been really quiet since Austin and Connor went back to school and my productivity level has once again increased to pre-summer vacation levels. I find that it's easiest to do my housework upstairs while Noah is awake and then type downstairs while he's sleeping. Occasionally he joins me downstairs while I try to get some extra work done.

Today he discovered a new playland - under mommy's desk! What fun! All the cords to pull on, some getting more of a reaction out of mom than others.....I knew he was close when I felt his little hand on my foot and noticed he loved watching my foot go up and down on the foot pedal. Then, just as I went to reach for my mouse......it disappeared over the back of my keyboard shelf! My stern "authority voice" saying, "No, no Noah" only seemed to make him enjoy it even more.

So, I redirected him with some of his brother's toys, and this worked, for about 10 minutes. Now I must go as I see he is attempting the stairs! Remind me again.... the work will be there tomorrow!! :)

She Came...She Saw....

So you're probably all wondering why it's taken me so long to post. It's taken me awhile to recover from my mom's visit......JUST KIDDING MOM!!

She came, she saw.....she did a TON of laundry! We agreed that my laundry does a little "bow chicka bow bow" in the dark because it multiplies at an amazing rate! But seriously, we had a good time. Noah managed to wait to crawl until the day Nommie arrived and continued to delight her the entire week she was here.

Austin and Connor also got lots of laughs and snuggles from their Nommie. (See the picture below for proof of how silly we get when Nommie's around....just kidding again, we're always that silly!)

We shipped her out on Saturday and by Sunday I missed her terribly, I had at least 3 loads of laundry to do!! JUST KIDDING MOM!! Apparently it's a genetic thing. When her mom (my grandma) visits her she does laundry. When my mom visited me....yup laundry. So, someday when my kids have a place of their own - they can do their own damn laundry! I'll have done it for 18 years!!