Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all. Can you believe Christmas will be here in about a week? I haven't gotten around to doing my Christmas cards. Geez, where is the time going? I think maybe if I work on them this weekend I can get them mailed next week. Maybe I'm not the only one who's feeling a time crunch, however, since we have received only 3 cards in the mail so far. One was from Jay's bosses at work and one was from his parents. Maybe no one is sending cards this year. Or maybe we should stop moving. :) Anyway, thougth I'd share these silly photos in front of our tree just in case I don't get cards mailed.

Out of the Mouth's of Babes

Eric, "Oh Snap!"

Cracked me right up...

Jonathan's a Girl Magnet

Jay dropped Jonathan off at school on Monday and as Jonathan was getting out of the car he heard two girls who were older than Jonathan say to him, "We know who you are Jonathan." Jay indicated that they said it in a "we heard about you from others and you are cute" sort of way. Jonathan's reply was something to the affect of "Stop saying that", but he said it with a big smile.

The Difference a Year or So Makes

I found these photos on an old memory card. They are from our move from St. Paul Como to our current house in Coon Rapids. Wow, do they look little! That was only about a year-and-a-half ago.

Thanksgiving Cousins

My camera is still broken and it appears it will remain that way. I can buy a brand new one with double the megapixels for probably less than it will take to fix my old one. The one I really want is a bit more but very cool. So in the meantime, I purchased a card reader so that I could download the photos that are stuck on my memory cards. All the new cameras use a much smaller memory cards so now my memory cards are no good. And they use different batteries or only two batteries instead of four. Oh, technology! How thee try to thwart me at every turn!!!!!!

Aren't the boys cute? Zachary is on the top left and David is on the right. Zachary is 16 and David 18. Then my little guys. They loved playing with their big boy cousins. It's sad that we live so far apart.

Fall Haiku

large shadow person
standing in fall's golden sun
shares autumnal warmth

More Techno Troubles

So, I'm pretty much depressed that I haven't posted any recent updates on this blog since the beginning of November and here it is the end of November. Ahhhh, time it marches on. And now that I have some photos and such that I'd like to post my camera is having issues with the memory card. It will not load correctly. And since that is the only way I can download photos (directly from my camera) things are going to have to wait again on this blog! Ugh! Why do we need all these technologic goodies? They are great when they are working but man do I hate it when they break. So much money down the tubes...Anywhoooooooo...

Thanksgiving was nice. My sister's family and my mom and step-dad came to our house for the holiday. Jay cooked some fantastic food. Unfortunately, the visits were cut short as my sister was starting a new job Saturday a.m. and my mother wasn't feeling very well. That was a bummer. Jonathan and Eric loved playing with their big cousins, David and Zachary. I think they wore the big boys out. It was nice to have my boys occupied by other people. Uncle Kevin seemed to really enjoy Jonathan's company as well.

On Friday instead of the usual trip downtown Minneapolis to see the Christmas display at Macy's, we went and visited The Third Lair which is a skateboarding place. David and Zachary wanted to see it because they had heard about it. It was pretty busy but pretty cool. My boys were amazed I think although neither expressed any interest in trying the sport. I was kind of relieved.

Other than that we did a lot of chatting, sitting around and played some Farkel dice game. It was a good Thanksgiving!

Bunker Hills Nature Hike

Jay, Jonathan, Eric and I went for a walk through the meadow at Bunker Hills Park on Monday. The weather was beautiful and the sun was shining brightly. I took this photo of my favorite guys in the middle of the meadow. Aren't they sweet?

The boys saw lots of deer tracks and maybe a couple of racoon tracks (or maybe they were giant cougar tracks). They picked up sticks, through rocks, climbed dead logs, and ran around the meadow. The only wild life on display was them except for an occasional grasshopper and butterfly.

Halloween Cuties

Jonathan enjoyed being Tigger this year for Halloween. Eric was Thomas the Train again. He barely wore the costume last year so I thought he could give it another go around this year. It seems he could even wear it next year because of the size of the thing. Maybe he will since neither of my children are that into the whole trick-or-treating business. We went to maybe 10 houses. I think the walking is a bit much for right now. Okay by me. We were home early enough to watch Scooby Doo and then off to bed! Even thought they visited so few houses, they still had a grand time and got plenty of candy. We are currently practicing candy rationing. Happy Belated Halloween to you all!

Jonathan and Kindergarten

Jonathan really likes school but insists that he doesn't. Just yesterday driving home from picking him up, he said the following: "I don't like school at all. There is too much information and stuff in my head...it makes my brain hurt." Made me laugh. He didn't appreciate the laughing however as he thinks I'm laughing at him. Poor kid. He needs to stop being so cute.

Jonathan also shared that his teacher wants the kids to bring in all their Snickers bars from trick or treating for her. I guess that's her favorite. Jonathan doesn't want to do this. He wants to try the Snickers bar first. If he likes it, his teacher isn't getting any.

And lastly, he also informed me again that he'll never be moving out of the house and never be getting a job. If his dad and I move, he'll move with us. And he wants to keep all his toys. And he wants a dog. He'll keep it in his room. With his toys.

Eric's 3rd Birthday - Party 2

Auntie Jen, Uncle Scott, Grandma Jackie and Cousins Zach and Anna were invited over Tuesday evening to help celebrate Eric's 3rd Birthday. (You'll have to take my word for it. For some reason, I do not have any photos of our guests.) We had tons of fun and lots of smiles. We had pizza, soda, chips and a great Thomas cake for our dinner! We sang Happy Birthday to Eric and he opened his gifts. Eric says he is three but adds, "I'm almost five, gonna be four." Cute.

Eric's 3rd Birthday - Party 1

A New Dinosaur Resident

Eric wanted a dinosaur like Jonathan's for his birthday. Grandma Linda and Grandpa Chuck bought him this AWESOME Stegosaurus instead. Now our home is filled with giant dinos! Say hello to Steggars and Rex.

Eric's New Tricycle

Jay and I purchased a Eric a tricycle for his 3rd birthday! It took a bit of getting used to but now every minute he has he wants to be riding it in our driveway. I love his excited little face in this picture.

Computer's Back

Hold on to your hats, my computer's home. Time to post some pictures. Time to print some pictures. I may have time this weekend...

My Little Guy is Three

Eric turned three yesterday. What a sweetie pie! He had a fantastic birthday party and thought each and every gift was the best thing yet. He even marveled over his birthday cards. What a pumpkin.

Grandma Linda and Grandpa Chuck came for his birthday which made the day even more special. Yippee! We celebrated with a nice spaghetti dinner and a homemade birthday cake. Apparently, the frosting was the real treat as Eric continually stuck his finger in it over and over again. Singing Happy Birthday and the ABC song were both hits of the evening. "Sing it again...clap, clap, clap."

As soon as my computer is fixed, I'll post some great photos and maybe even a video clip or two from the evening although that is pretty much still a mystery action for me. Until then, you'll just have to imagine Eric's beatiful large smiles and giggles of laughter.

And the birthday fun isn't over yet. On Tuesday evening we are having another party for Eric. This time Auntie Jen, Grandma Jackie and Cousins Anna and Zachary will be in attendance. Yeah more cake!

Computer Update

This is most interesting. My keyboard will be replaced this week. And as a bonus fix, we will have the CD ROM replaced as well. Yeah, movies in my bed again...

Hopefully, we'll have the expensive little machine back next week. Watch for some great posts then!

Good Grief

So, there won't be any new postings of photos for a while. I spilled water on my laptop keyboard on Sunday. The computer no longer works. I'm pretty bummed out. Sad thing is I didn't learn my lesson the last time the computer broke. I never printed all those photos. I'm sure they'll be fine this time around too. Right? Good grief!

Pumpkins...Oh My

We attempted to carve pumpkins on Sunday evening. One look at the slimy goo inside the pumpkin and both boys decided that cleaning out the pumpkin was a job for MOM. Don't let the pictures of Jonathan in front of the lidless pumpkin fool you. He did not help clean out the pumpkin even though he put his garden gloves on for the job. He did supervise me in my work however.

Jonathan and Eric each had a small pumpkin they picked out and painted and decorated with stickers. I wanted them to decorate with large sticker shapes. Spray the whole pumpkin black with spray paint. Let dry and then take off the stickers. I saw it in a magazine somewhere and it was super cute. Unfortunately, the boys didn't really like that idea since they had their own ideas. Oh well. It was their pumpkins and they could decide how to decorate them. Jonathan's pumpkin is purple in some places and filled with stickers in others. Eric's is purple and red. Very nice job. Kudos to my Kids! My pumpkin has a scary carved face and glows very nicely outside in the dark.

We still have a couple more pumpkins to decorate. Our trip to the farm Sunday a.m. yielded us six pumpkins. Oops.

By the way, Eric was present for the pumpkin carving and decorating but decided not to participate in photos.

Fridley Fire Department Open House

On Saturday, I took the boys to the Fridely Fire Department. They were holding an open house from 11 -3 p.m. We went and saw numerous red fire trucks. Both boys were able to sit inside the cabs. We also got to take a ride on a refurbished white fire truck that is used in parades around the city. That was a fun ride! The sirens blared while we rode around a few blocks in the back of the truck. There was a police car and rescue boat to check out. A firehose to shoot water at a fake burning house. A demonstration of some fireman tools. And a ladder truck offering rides in the ladder bucket. Jonathan wasn't interested in that at all. Oh and there was more. A bulldozer which Jonathan climbed up on and got to sit in. Also, a bouncy fire house that the boys really enjoyed. We had a blast. It was a great day! We also took home some souvenirs...silver fireman sticker badges and kid size work aprons from Home Depot along with tool boxes to make.

Camera Play

Jonathan asked to borrow my camera the other day to take some pictures. He took photos of Spongebob Cartoons on the television, tons of photos of his police car and the sofa. In the mix were these self-potraits. The kids got talent! :)