Day 355

For years I've told myself that I'd make some stockings for my family, but I have yet to be inspired by anything. I'd been searching some of the after Christmas sales too for anything that seemed to suit our family. This year, we finally decided to commit and buy some that we liked. I'm still holding out hope that one day I'll make some, but in the mean time, we have some lovely stockings to hang.

Day 353

This morning the boys had gymnastics, and since we were out of the house by 10:30 with no obligations, we decided to make a visit to the zoo. It was pretty cold and rainy this morning, so after seeing some of the animals outside, we decided to stick with the indoor exhibits.

I snagged a picture of this little guy, but forgot to get what his name is. I thought he was cute.

Day 352

It's become an annual tradition to get the boys' handprints on plates for the grandparents for Christmas. When I was looking around the store for the right pieces tonight, this snowman was just begging to be made for my parents. My mom collects snowmen, so it's perfect. Fortunately, I brought dad along for the activity because the snowman required a bit of actual painting. I'm hoping he fires up well.

Day 318

We were in Seattle again this morning making some preparations for my Paul's birthday party coming up next month. On the way back to the car, Matt spied the fountain and wanted to go and see the water. I thought the boys watching the fountain made a nice picture. It would have been better if I'd taken my stuff out of the way first.

Day 309

The boys and I spent the morning running some errands and the last stop before heading home for lunch was at the craft store for mom's beading project. It was supposed to be a pretty quick trip since craft stores and little boys don't get along.

When we got back to the car after a successful stop, I realized I was missing something really important.

Two things were going on when I'd parked the car. One was that I was talking on the phone. The other was that it was pouring down rain, and I didn't want to try to wrestle two little boys and car seats and talking on the phone all at the same time. The new stereo we bought a couple of weeks ago has integrated Bluetooth, so I waited with the accessories for the car on (keeping the Bluetooth connection) until the conversation was over.

The problem is that when I got out of the car (preoccupied with the rain), I forgot to turn off the accessories and put my keys in my purse. I let little Matt lock the doors like he asks to and was promptly locked out.

Of course, it was easily resolved with a 90-minute sidetrack waiting for grandma, driving up to dad's work and coming back with the second set of keys. The boys were troopers because they didn't have lunch until after we were back in our own car. Paul said he was starving, and Matt piped up with "hungry".

Day 288

This morning was not what I would have considered one of my best mornings. Before 7:30, I had cleaned shampoo up off the carpet, cleaned up doggy poo, and rescued my youngest from being locked in our bedroom.

Sometime in the process of cleaning up the tools I used to save my little guy, starting the laundry, and getting breakfast ready, I lost my cell phone. It was on silent, but since I couldn't even hear it vibrating anywhere while it rang, I was sure I must have gotten it caught up in the sheets that were in the wash. But even after I went through the dripping wet sheets and towels, I still couldn't find it.

After having exhausted every other possible location, I finally searched the tool box in the garage. Sure enough, it was in the box. I'm not sure if I have a child or my stressed out morning to blame for that storage location, but I was quite relieved to find it.

Day 283

The weather in October can be surprisingly nice, but you have to be careful about getting used to it. It's been a really clear, sunny week, but next week is bringing cloudy skies and rain.

I wanted to take the boys to the pumpkin patch earlier this week, but found out Paul will be having his first Pre-K field trip at our favorite place next week, so I didn't want to go two weeks in a row. We decided to go out this afternoon just so we could get some pictures while the weather was nice.

Unfortunately, no one mentioned to the boys that they should cooperate, so I wasn't thrilled with the results. There were some good ones, but not "the" one.

This is one my husband took of me and the boys. You can see that they're into having fun, not so much into smiling at the camera.

Day 272

It's an off-week for childcare, so to give my mom a bit of a break from taking care of the boys two days in a row, I went in to work a couple of hours late and fed the little guys breakfast before bringing them over. The picture for today is how much of my two toaster waffles I got a chance to eat before the boys were all done with their breakfasts and ready to head out for the day.

Day 267

This evening I was shopping at the pre-sale for the consignment sale I posted about a few days ago. I didn't find much in the way of clothing for the boys, but I scored big time on toys.

I wanted to get a picture of the sale for today and when I looked back at the clothing racks, I discovered that there was a beautiful sunset going on in the background, so I had to make sure I caught that as well.

Day 265

After dinner my boys were running around playing while I cleaned up. I caught them as their own little band under the table of all places. They thought they were pretty clever, so I had to grab the camera because I thought they were pretty cute.

Day 255

We took the boys to the circus this morning, and it was a ton of fun. I have never been to the circus, so I think I was nearly as excited as they were.

It was a good show full of loads of animals, acrobatics, and silly antics. I was surprised by how many of the stereotypical things of the circus that they actually did like shooting a person (or two) out of a canon.

The photo for today is of the elephants in one of those classic circus poses. Sadly, after this my camera died, so I missed out on pictures of the tigers.

Day 254

I'm sitting here eating my dinner and blogging while my boys are cruising the bookstore. We had an errand to run this evening, so we decided to grab dinner. The boys ordered pizza by the slice while I ordered a yummy Italian chop chop salad.

They were nearly finished with their food by the time I received mine, so now they're browsing the bookstore while munch away in peace (aside from the computer lunatic behind me).

This salad is somehow even tastier. ;)

Day 251

For this school year the routine is that my mother-in-law takes care of the kids on Tuesdays while I'm at work. This morning she had a doctor's appointment, so I met up with her to watch the kids for an hour or so. While I was waiting for her and the boys to arrive, I realized I had a pretty cool view from the fourth floor of the medical building, so I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures.

Day 248

We took the boys to the fair after naps this afternoon. When we left the house, it looked like it was about to pour on us, but we avoided any rain at all. The sun even came out for a little while. It seems like we might have lucked out because the rest of the weekend looks pretty stormy.

Day 245

I have been stalking craigslist for a train table for probably about a month now. It's for the boys for Christmas this year. I wanted to look early so I would avoid the rush and hopefully not be paying inflated rates or fighting for one.

I managed to find a gal less than a mile from my work, with a table that exactly met what I was looking for, for a reasonable price. The table is in excellent condition, and I couldn't be more pleased.

It will be hanging out in the warehouse at work for the next few months - right next to the stove my sister picked up for free from one of my parent's neighbors last week.

Day 237

This evening we went out to claim Cold Stone's free ice cream for my husband's birthday last week. Before we headed back home we thought the boys might like to burn off some energy in the outdoor play area.

One of the things for the kids to play with is a kind of water feature. I thought the captured water droplets in this picture (with the point-and-shoot) were pretty cool!

Day 235

The frenzy that is back-to-school starts in our household again tomorrow. My husband is a teacher, so he has meetings and work-type stuff going on the week before the kids start back. Instead of driving straight to work (and sleeping an additional 30 minutes or so), I will be taking the kids over to my parents bright and early tomorrow morning.

Conventional wisdom says to be as prepared as you can be the night before, so my picture of the day is of the stuff I need to pack in the car staged by our front door.

Summer vacation is officially over.

Day 232

Just found out this evening that my plans for childcare for this coming school year might not be working out like I'd hoped. This is my quick attempt at trying to visualize the schedule to try to come up with some alternatives. I feel like I'm trying to work a logic problem with no solution. Hopefully things will pull together so we can work something out.

Day 220

This afternoon I met up with a friend to shop the half-priced portion of a consignment sale going on this weekend. I was actually going to be participating in the sale, but the time to get everything ready was too short, the location too far away, and we had too many things going on.

I do have to say that for me, shopping during the last couple of hours paid off really well. I was able to pick up two shirts for Paul at half price. For Matt, I got overalls, a sweater vest and polo, and two shirts. All of this for about $24, and they were good brands like Talbot Kids and Gymboree.

And I got a Mariner's backpack for a dollar. (I know it was a promotional item, but I didn't have to collect the milk products for it.) I was really pleased with what I found.

Day 187

I took the boys to the beach today, and all three of us thought the sand in our toes was pretty cool. It was a really nice beach, and it was fantastic to have some fun in the sun.