I'm back (for now)

Well it's been a while since I've blogged, but blogging should not be a chore, so if I don't have time to do it, I'm just not going to. But tonight I just got the kids to bed, Todd is watching football and I just sat myself down in front of the TV with my laptop to watch Grey's Anatomy and yes blog.

Here is a little of what's been going on around here:

For Halloween we had the cutest little girl bunny and a boy without a costume. Well sort of, I actually bought him an Elmo costume because he's almost as popular as Barny is around here, (I actually looked for a Barny costume but couldn't find one) unfortunately as much as Tony loves Elmo, he apparently doesn't like the idea of being Elmo! Every time I put it on him he screamed, so he wore an Elmo sweatshirt instead and it was good enough to get him lots of "CANNY". In fact, we have so much CANNY that it has taken over the house. It is constantly on his mind and he never forgets where it is and asks for his CANNY many many many times a day. Seriously, I can't wait till the CANNY is gone.

In other new, my dad went home a week and a half ago, so that means that the patio is finally done. I am really looking forward to using it next summer. I think that once I get to use and enjoy the patio a little bit, I wont mind as much about the expense of it all. Well truth be told there is one set of steps left to do, but that will have to wait till next year, or maybe even 2 years. My brother has been harrassing me for pictures, but since it is dark out, I can't take them right now, but will try to add them tomorrow.

My business is slowly getting going, finally getting some work, but it's so much harder than I thought, and there have been days I've wanted to just quit and give up before I put anymore money into it. But since the insurance is the biggest expense of it thus far, and I'm committed to a year for that, I decided to stick it out for a year and see what happens. I'm so glad I have a partner in this, she keeps me motivated.

Farm work is slowing down drastically for Todd, which is really good timing, cause Todd's parents just left today for Australia for 3 1/2 weeks. So that means I no longer have a babysitter readily available. It's going to be a long month, cause not only does Todd's mom watch the kids when Todd and I are both working, but she also gives me lots of breaks for shopping, errands and the occasional dinner sans kids for Todd and I. Thankfully though it just so happens that my mom is coming tomorrow to watch my sisters kids for a week while Rachael and her husband are on a "medical conference" in London!

And speaking of kids, Bella is growing like a weed, she eats so good. I am making all her baby food from scratch instead of going the Gerber route. She eats everything I give her! So far she has had zucchini, butternut squash, acorn squash, pumpkin, peas, potatoes, apples, peaches, banana and cereal. Feeding her is really enjoyable cause she actually enjoys it. Tony on the other hand is so frustrating to feed, he eats about as much as a bird. Lately his diet primarily consists of fruit loops, yogurt, pretzels, peanuts, nutella sandwiches and chocolate milk. Oh and CANNY. Hopefully he outgrows this stage soon.

He is also suddenly very clingy and jealous of any attention NOT given to him, and bedtime is a nightly struggle, so I have a feeling this might be the start of the "terrible two's". Bella is constantly on the move, rolling all over the place. I don't think it will be long before she's crawling, time to get the baby gates back out!

Yep, things are hectic around here and these two kids are certainly the cause, but they are so worth every bit of it!

Halloween Eve

Halloween got bumped this year for Friday night high school football games. So around here tonight was Halloween. After the cold and ever so slightly snowy weekend we just had, we were all very happy with our 62 degree weather.

This picture was taken by my friend Kristen last weekend when we got our first snow here in Michigan. Thankfully it didn't last long. I just love this picture though so I had to steal it from her blog.

This was Anthony's first Halloween, and although he can't walk up to the doors, or say trick or treat, or even eat the candy, that didn't stop me from dressing him up and traipsing him around the block with all the other kids. He even managed to snag me a few pieces of candy. They kept trying to give me candy they thought he could eat, like marshmallows and gummies, I was kinda bummed cause I wanted the chocolate. He can't eat any of it, so it's all for me, and I don't want marshmallows I want chocolate!

Anyway here is my little penguin.

Of course Todd and I both had to have a picture with our little penguin.
Every year on Halloween, since I've lived here in Michigan, I go over to my sister Rachael's house, along with several others, eat pizza and go trick or treating. She has all the kids, so it's easiest if we come to her. Plus she lives in a good neighborhood for trick or treating. The block is long enough that the kids get plenty of candy, and short enough that it doesn't take all night to get around it. Tonight my sister had a special treat for all of us. She made homemade hot apple cider with Cinnamon sticks, whip cream and carmel sauce (just like they make it at Starbucks) and it was sooo good. She even bought some disposable to-go cups so we could sip it while we walked around the block with the kids.

Here are some more pre-trick or treating photos.

My niece Kristen (cuz-cuz) with Anthony. Kristen was Shawn Johnson the Olympic gymnast. My niece Katya was Nastia Lukins, the Russian born USA Olympic gymnast.
My nephew Ben was Brian Urlacher from the Chicago Bears.As for my nephew Jack, I'm not really sure who he was, but his costume was really cool. I'm not a Star Wars fan myself, but I'm guessing he was some character from the movie. Here is the whole gang. Obviously we aren't the only one's who prefer to spend Halloween at Rach's house.

Anthony actually enjoyed his stroll around the block. I can't wait till next year, it will be even more fun for him (and me).

I'm sure Rachael and Francie will be posting about the night too with pictures of their own, it's always fun to read each others interpretation of the same event and see who gets the best pictures. Usually it's Francie, but every once in a while Rachael and I get a few good ones too.

HAPPY HALLLOWEEN PART II

With no kids of my own yet (for another 35 days or so) and because I live in a countrified town that has very few trick-or-treaters, we didn't stick around at home last night to hand out candy. I did leave the porch lights on and a bowl of candy on the porch, but it was all still there when I got home, so I think it would have been a boring halloween if we'd stayed home. Instead we went over to my sister Rachaels house and enjoyed the whole halloween experience with her family. Next year I'll have a little boy who will be 11 months old (wow that's hard to imagine) yet I'm already thinking of costume ideas. We will probably still go over to Rachael's house, she lives on the perfect street for trick-or-treating, it's only got about 15 houses on it! And the very best part of the evening was the warm apple pie she made.

Here are my nieces and nephews in costume!

KRISTEN THE ARCHAEOLOGIST

JACK AS CHEWBACCA

(is that how you spell it? my spell check says no)

KATYA AS A KITTY CAT!

(we fixed the white ankles before sending her
out trick-or-treating, I don't know what her
mom was thinking when she put white tights on her)

BEN AS BOB THE BUILDER MAN!

(who by the way, would correct you if you called him anything but builder man)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

This past weekend my friend had a halloween party at her house and everyone got to dress up. She has done this now for 3 years in a row and it's really quite fun to get to dress up again like when we were kids. This year I really struggled with what I was going to dress up as. The costumes at the halloween store are all short and tight, none of which compliment a pregnant belly. I considered painting my stomach as a pumpkin, but between my sister Natalie telling me people might be grossed out by my bare stomach and the fact that it was going to be cold, I decided against it. I had found this picture off the internet that I was going to try and copy. Anyway the egg idea I got from my sister Francie, she said it as a joke but I rather liked the idea. She also suggested I wear devil ears and be a deviled egg, but I couldn't find any devil ears so I just went as a plain ol egg. The best part is, the whole costume only cost me $5 (for the yellow t-shirt). If you think Todd is not dressed up in the picture your partially wrong. He went as a blue collar worker and wore his work uniform. So he claims he was in costume but really he just went as himself.