It blows my mind that people still smoke cigarettes.  Unless you're 90 years old and have been smoking Camel filter-less for 74 years, what is your excuse?
And with your kids in the car?  Don't even get me started.  We all remember sitting in the backseat of our parents' station wagons getting ashes flicked onto our foreheads...  but that was "the old days".  You have no excuse today, folks.
It's disgusting and if I was ok with the government telling us how to act, eat and consume down to the very details of our day, I would be ok with it being illegal.  But I'm not.  So use your judgment, people!


This weekend is Halloween.  Spidey is very excited.  He asks to wear his costume every single day and will have the opportunity to wear it three time over the next 4 days.
Tomorrow is Abby's Costume Parade at school, Saturday is a party at our friends' home and Sunday is Halloween which will be kicked off with our "Pre-T-o-T Pizza Party"!  We're having friends and neighbors over for a pizza & BYOB warm-up before we all swarm the neighborhood.
I cannot wait!
Halloween has never excited me much, not beyond the great movies on cable and the season in general.  But with the kids, that has changed.  They are so excited to go trick-or-treating, see all their friends, walk in the school parade and eat candy, candy, CANDY!  I don't blame them - it's all pretty exciting when you're barely 5 & just 3.

Their costumes, originally, were to be Buzz Lightyear and Rapunzel.  I was oh-so-thankful when Abby changed her mind.  THe hair for the Rapunzel costume was giving me major anxiety.  Plus, the movie hasn't even come out yet - why so excited?
But I was really sure that Wyatt was set on the Buzz thing...  he loves him, he ran around the house yelling "to infinity and beyond" and shooting lasers at us (read: spitting while touching his arms).
But, I underestimated both of their love of Superheros.
Abby has liked the X-Men for some time and in my attempt to allow that, I had introduced the older cartoons to them because the newer X-Men, Spiderman and Batman shows are very adult.  Thus spawned the love of all things "Super".
Abby spied the SuperGirl costume and was immediately taken with the gold belt and fancy skirt.  Wyatt took one look at Spiderman and hasn't looked back since.
Example, this was at his birthday party after much of the crowd had dissipated:

He shoots his webs with laser precision, folks so look out.

Each day that we head out of the house Wyatt is a different "man", be it Batman, Superman, Spiderman or Iceman.  Iceman shoots his ice walkway for us as we walk wherever we go.  Batman flies, as does Superman (yeah I know Batman doesn't fly, not sure where that came from) and Spiderman shoots his webs everywhere and at everyone.  It's a good thing he's cute because when I say at "everyone", I mean that.
They both enjoy the cartoons, specifically "Spiderman and his Amazing Friends" narrated by Stan Lee.  While we had his eyes covered on his brithday so that we could present him his Spiderman Bike from Grammy and Granbear Jay turned on the theme song to that show and he nearly bounced out of his skin trying to see what was going on.  He was not disappointed:

I'll leave you with this exchange with Abby from this morning.  It was the kind of conversation you wish others could hear but the precious kind that only ever happens while you're driving and you can't record it or write it down.
Abby:  "I don't think Flash is a superhero, Wywy.  He doesn't have any powers."
Me:  "Yes, he is, Abs.  He's Flash!  He's got super speed!"
A:  "So, what can he do?"
Me:  "Run really, really fast!  Catch bad guys!"
A:  "Oh, so he can run really fast and catch the bad guys for the real superheroes to fight?"

Love it!

Happy 9th Anniversary, babe.

 

In our pre-marital counseling with Pastor Ray we had to take a quiz.
I remember anxiously awaiting the results, having an on-going competition (in my own mind) with Jen & Steve...  {they had no idea and likely wouldn't care, but they were the ultimate, as far as in-love couples go, in my young life and I was so in love with their love, I hoped to be as in love or even more so.  It sounds dumb now, as I try to explain it, but they are truly still in love and a wonderful couple!}

Anyway - we did well (of course) and Pastor Ray even went as far as to say that we were even more in love than Jen & Steve.  {In retrospect, he was probably effing with me.  Knowing him, as he knows me.}

The one question that was "red flagged" was this one (or something like it):
Is this the person you are meant to spend your life with, without with you would die?
 We both said "yes".

Apparently, that's a bad answer.  You're supposed to be able to stand on your own two feet and not die without each other.
In that case, ok - I might not literally die, but come on, that's a trick question.
And, anyway, we both said yes, so that's gotta be a good sign.
Pastor Ray said he knew what we meant and went ahead and married us anyway.
Thanks, buddy.

Today is my beautiful baby boy's birthday.
Any mother with a son will understand that there is no love like this kind.

It does not compare to the love and friendship I share with my daughter - and one shouldn't try to compare the two.

It is a very special kind of relationship - mother and son.  The way this boy melts me, woos me, makes me laugh out loud...  the way I want to bite him, squeeze him, sniff him and cuddle him until he demands to be let go.

 
When my son was born I understood my mother-in-law in a way that changed our relationship forever.  I understand that her son is my husband - but first he was her son.

Today this sweet little monkey-man will turn 3.  These three years have gone by so quickly, too quickly.  I can't believe how time has flown.

He was born on a Monday morning.  The Saturday before I was elated, on Sunday I was petrified.
I remember wondering how I would handle two babies.  I remember crying about how I might be tired and busy and I might snap at my precious little girl for no good reason or leave her feeling neglected.  I remember wondering how I could love another baby as much as I loved my only baby at the time.
I remember feeling so overwhelmed and so exhausted and so dirty. 

But it went so quickly that I barely remember it. 

I barely remember Wyatt nursing.  I barely remember Wyatt screaming crying.  I barely remember the way he would cling to me and wail in crowded or noisy places.  {He still plugs his ears when things get too crazy around him.}

Now he's three.
He uses the potty and rationalizes with me in conversation.  He says "Daddy, come here, I need to talk to you for a minute." and "Mommy, you hurt my feelings and I'm going to cry!"  He asks me questions like "Mama, do you think Spiderman, Superman and Ironman like chips and pretzels?"


He tells me his cape (that I sewed for him on my machine!) makes him run faster than Superman.
He wants to visit the cows on the farm and chase the barn cats.

He climbs into my bed at 1am and slides me off of my pillow taking over my spot and then asking me to snuggle him.  Sometimes he just sleeps at the foot of our bed like a puppy.

He gets his own granola bars by climbing up onto the counter, opening the cabinet and climbing back down with it.

He opens the fridge and takes out his own drinkable yogurt.
He picks out his own clothes and gets dressed by himself.
He lets the dogs in and out.

My baby is a big boy.  I am so proud of him.  These three years have flown by but I can tell you for sure - we have enjoyed them endlessly - and look forward to millions more.

Happy Birthday, Wy-Wy!!

I love you so much.

After we dropped Abby off at school this morning, Wyatt and I were bopping around town.  I had a bin of clothes to drop off at my friend, Sue's house.
Sue just had an addition put on her house - an addition the size of my house to her home that was already the size of 3 of my houses.
On the one hand you want to hate her.  Her kitchen is literally the size of my first floor, her granite island seats 12.
But, truly, she is one of the kindest, most compassionate people on the planet so I didn't hold back my drool and adulation. 
She has an entire set of drawers for her cake decorating tools and baking pans. 
She had a custom cabinet built for her KitchenAid Mixer. 
She has a "Tea Drawer".

On second thought, I do hate her.
Good thing she doesn't read this.

After Sue's house I dropped by Kim's.  I knocked but left her bag in the doorknob assuming no one was home.  As I was driving away her husband came to the door, then her daughter, then her.  The whole family was there as I played Ring & Run.
Good times.

After the 2 visits I stopped and picked up a couple of mums and some bird seed at Wild Bill's.  Bill's is a catch-all store that you can spend very little at and walk away with very much.
For $16 I got 3 large mums and a big bag of Sunflower seed bird food.  Not bad.

Wyatt and I stopped at home after that, went potty and decided to head back out to grab some corn stalks to decorate the top of the driveway with.  The corn & mums complete the look up there and hopefully they will stay standing and blooming at least through next weekend for the Boy's birthday party if not through Halloween.

We headed out to the farm to the left where I knew the corns were $3.50 a bundle but they were empty.  So, we headed up to "the cow farm" where I figured I would pay more but, oh well.
I did pay more - but it was worth twice what I paid.

This particular farm is owned by Mr. Ellis whom I have met here and there through town though I'm certain he would not know me in a line-up of moms who he chats with.
He is a dairy farmer and his cows are part of the group that make up The Farmer's Cow.  They don't sell milk in gallon bottles so I don't buy it but I do try to buy their eggs and ice cream when I see the opportunity. 
We've went through the Farm's Open House Tour and I asked his son so many questions about cows, how they're milked, how they're treated, why and what-for - SO many questions that Jay was starting to walk a little behind me and other people were whispering and pointing.
But, I loved it.  It did make me stop eating beef for a while but I got over that.  {Oh, and I did Blog It!}
 
Anyway, the son was there today, setting the cows up for feeding time and when he saw us he smiled, waved and welcomed us to "take a look around".
How nice is that?
What year is this?

Just to refresh you - in this morning I stopped by 2 friends' houses and then 2 farms and now here I am, walking around a local dairy farm with Wyatt, mooing at and petting the cows before we head home to finish decorating for Autumn.

It was the best distraction ever.
Any more questions about why I love Hebron?