turkey day

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I know we did! We went out to Mike's new house where there was lots of space, lots of people, lots of food, and lots of fun. Alex had a great time "hiking" the mountain out back with Ben and riding the quad. He claimed the biggest leg of the two turkeys Mike slaved over only to lick it! I think Ben was more than happy to finish it for him though...



Gramma was excited to bust out some Christmas books she's been hanging on to and of course Alex was happy to join her. One is a really neat pop-up of the Nutcracker that kept him occupied for some time (quite the feat these days!).

goodbye duck tail, hello big boy

I'm sad to announce that I finally gave in and got Alex a hair cut. Our friend Lindsey is a hair stylist and was kind enough to relieve him of the wings over his ears and duck tail that had formed on the back of his head. I was hanging on to hope that they would indeed turn to curls but alas here in the driest of dry climates it was just becoming a funky frizzy mess. She didn't even touch the top or front yet it makes such a difference in his appearance! And he was such a good boy, sitting there patiently (once he got a snack of course) even though it was long after bed time.



Here he is the next day showing of his new 'do and his Vikings pride. Ben couldn't resist the pint-sized Peterson jersey at the Football Hall of Fame on his last trip to Cleveland.


And just because he's so dang cute, here he is loving the neighbor's trike (not to mention it's Backyardigans so I had to post for Cousin Macord). Guess what somebody's getting for Christmas this year?

Happy Birthday Spencer

Today our angel would be 3 years old. We love you bubba!

Alex does Seattle

Last week I went to Seattle for my first business trip in years. All of the planets must have been aligned the day the plans were made because it just so happened I got to take Alex with me. My mom was already planning to be in Washington helping my grandparents move and of course jumped at the chance to play nanny for a few days. While I was busy working they were even busier seeing the sights.

The first evening we were there we were lucky enough to meet up with one of my online friends (or as Ben would call her, one of my "imaginary friends") and her son. We had a great time exploring the famous Pike Street Market and some of downtown Seattle. Thanks "Al-Dawg" (this is what her son calls her these days) for the great time!

here's Alex picking his nose in front of the market

and the boys on the pig


just some of the amazing fresh goods available there...
I brought a couple of these babies home and had ourselves one heck of a dinner this weekend!


I also couldn't resist bringing home one of these amazingly beautiful pepper garlands. I know, you're thinking why the heck would someone from Arizona buy peppers in Washington but I have never seen anything like them!


fruits and veggies galore

I seriously think we need to pack up, move to Seattle, and take up residence in the hotel we stayed in. Not only did Alex sleep like an angel while we were there, the view of the traffic kept him entertained for hours!

The second day there was all work for me so Alex and gramma hit the town!


They even took a duck (land/water) tour. My good boy waited so patiently with his duck whistle which he finally figured out how to blow just the other day...


I know you can't tell from this picture but apparently he was so excited to get on the duck he could hardly contain himself. Unfortunately he only lasted about 20 minutes before succumbing to the motion and hum of the motor and drifting off to sleep. Isn't he cute all bundled up?


On day 3 they hit the Children's Museum. Gramma says Alex practically owned the place. They were there for hours and he just kept going and going and going from one "station" to the next. He slid...


and shopped...


and "dined"...

and drove...

and created his own Mr. Potatohead (these pics amaze me because he looks so intent and is even putting the parts in the right places!)...


and painted...


and threw a tantrum or two...


and made music...


...and did so many other things any more pics would blow up my blog! But I think you get the idea. The kid had a pretty good time. He was such a good little traveler too (minus the 20 minute episode on the way home but hey, it was late, he'd had a busy day, and at least the plane was half empty!).

pumpkins and candy and tantrums, oh my!

Apparently fall has arrived though you would never know it from the 90 degree weather around here. But what else is new? As usual, I'm a bit behind on the blogging so this is going to be one full post. I'll try to keep the chit chat to a minimum and get on to what everyone really cares about...the pictures!

We started off the fall festivities with our annual trip to the Schnepf Farms Pumpkin & Chili Festival. This year we went with our fun-loving friends the Browns in the evening when it was cool enough to dress in jeans and long sleeves so we could at least pretend it was cooling off. The kids had a great time stuffing their faces, making friends, riding their first rides (well for Alex at least), dancing to the live music, checking out the animals, and of course watching the choo-choo!

group pic -- Jarad, Ben, Alex, Lindsey, & Peyton
(I of course took the picture)

the boys loved riding in style!


they couldn't wait to get on the choo-choo but it turned out to be a "haunted" ride so I don't think Alex was too impressed


a rare family shot


Alex was so tuckered out by the end of the night this was as close as we could get him to the pumpkins!

Halloween itself proved to be a bit of a challenge considering it was still in the 90's and Alex's costume was all fleece. Oh but what a CUTE costume it was! Here is he is modeling the top half at Addison's first annual Halloween party last week. If you asked him what a monkey says he would proudly reply "ooh ooh ooh!"

Here he is Halloween morning making sure our pumpkin was still out front. Yes it was 90-something that day and he's wearing a long-sleeved shirt but gosh darn it just because a kid lives in warm weather shouldn't mean he can't get into the spirit! Finding a short-sleeved Halloween t-shirt is about as easy as finding a warm weather costume!

Halloween night we went over to the Smiths so Alex and Addie could do some trick-or-treating. He was oh so adorable as he walked up to the first door and said "titoteet", watched a bit perplexed as a mini butterfinger was dropped in his bucket, and replied with a prompt "tay too!" He stood in the driveway pulling his one piece of loot out of his pumpkin, inspecting it, and dropping it back in a few times before we crossed the street to hit the next house...

...and then this happened. Yes Alex has hit the tantrum stage and hit it hard. They come on quick and without warning. Apparently we were done trick-or-treating.

So I picked him up, took him back to the Smith's, stripped off the top half of his costume and he was fine. Who can blame him? It was at least 85 degrees out and he was a sweaty mess in less than 10 minutes. Daddy gave him his first ever sucker and things were even better!


Oh, and as a bonus, here is Ben's brief tutorial on how to carve a pumpkin in 5 minutes or less. Ingenious!

Ben: Here, you try!
Alex: Uh are you nuts?!

nap time, a pictorial

As many of you already know, Alex has never been the greatest of sleepers. So it's not surprising that nap time at daycare has proven to be a bit of a challenge. Our ever-patient sitter K has discovered that he will actually sleep (most days) but only on the couch, in the living room, with the tv on. I'm not too crazy about the tv part but whatever works. Depending on what time he goes down (which varies as greatly as the length of his naps) there may be a room full of kids or he may be all by his lonesome. Sometimes he just falls asleep and sometimes...well sometimes it results in a kodak moment.

On this particular day K had taken the other kids out back to play while Alex did his thing. When she came back in to check on him this is what she found...


She picked him up, put him back on the couch, and he started to fuss. So she tried to help him settle but he wasn't having it. She went to check on the other kids and when she came back he was laying on his tummy on top of the coffee table -- asleep. And that's where he stayed for the duration of his 45 minute nap.

This picture was the result of a similar situation. I believe she was actually able to relocate him to the couch this time without incident though.


Apparently Alex and Daisy (the boxer) favor the same corner of the couch. Most days they take turns pushing each other out but on this particular day they must have just been too tired to care.

playing catch up

It turns out this working thing really puts a damper on one's free time and well, the blog is suffering for it. So I'm going to attempt to make up for my 2-week blogging hiatus in this one post.

First of all, kudos to those of you who solved the riddle! I knew it was creative but I didn't really think it would be that difficult to crack. Just know that if you didn't get it on your own, you weren't alone. Anyway, yes we are expecting another baby due around May 18, 2009 (originally May 17 -- it changed by a day since I last posted). Should be interesting because last 2 have both come on the 26th of the month which also happened to be 10 days past their official due dates. This one will obviously be breaking one of those traditions if not both. Anyone want to start placing bets now?

Back to the catching up...

A few weeks ago my friend Lindsey and I drug the boys out of bed at a grueling 5:30am to do the Walk for Hope and help raise some money to fight breast cancer. It was a gorgeous day albeit exhausting.

For being a lesser known walk it was amazing how many people were there! Here's a shot of the crowd entering the zoo which was part of the course.


Zoo admission was included for the rest of the day so once we finished our 3 miles we took the boys back for some fun. I think it's pretty safe to say that their favorite part of the day was the petting zoo/farm area. I mean they got to ride on real "ta-kors" (tractors)!


Peyton also enjoyed the animals but Alex opted to sit that part out.


He did however enjoy the farm playhouse. Notice that nice red mark on his forehead? That was courtesy of the header he took out of his stroller 20 minutes earlier at the Wallaby exhibit. Can we say bad mommy?


And finally proof that is was all in all an exhausting day. Anyone who knows Alex knows that this is a RARE occurance!


Last weekend I finally made good on Ben's Fathers Day gift and took him to the Neil Diamond concert. I personally am not his biggest fan but have to admit it was a good show. The man is definitely a born entertainer. Though after witnessing him live and knowing what a huge fan Ben is I have to wonder why it is that Ben refuses to take me to the theater, particularly musicals. I also have to wonder why ol' Neil hasn't joined the likes of Elton John, Billy Joel, and even Abba in taking his music to the stage. The man has Broadway show written all over him!

Think Ben enjoyed the show? (pardon the poor picture quality -- they were taken on my cell phone)

riddle me this

First one to figure it out gets...







to cut the cord!


Hahahahahahaha!!! Just kidding.

About cutting the cord that is...


P.S. Look carefully -- it's a two part riddle.