Girls Weekend

Last weekend was the best weekend I've had in a long time. Us girls headed to St Louis on Friday for the weekend. It was Jen, Johnna, Jill, Gail and her friend Jenny, and me. We ate at great restuarants, did some major damage shopping--but got some great Christmas gifts, and went to a comedy club Saturday night. One of the highlights of my weekend was my love affair with my bed. I was one of the lucky ones to get a bed to myself and what a bed it was. Johnna got us a great deal on a fancy hotel on Priceline. This bed had the most incredible mattress, about 6 pillows, a down comforter, and it was heaven. Honestly I had 2 of the best nights of sleep in my life. No one was snoring, no one woke me up because of a bad dream or a wet bed, no sick kids to get up with, no one wanting milk at 6:30am. It was heaven. Goodbye Doubletree Hotel, goodbye sweet bed. I miss you already.
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Aiden started his speech therapy monday morning and did great!! I don't think I mentioned that I had him evaluated. He scored really high on receptive language and how much he comprehended. He also has a good sized vocabulary. Where he was lacking was in his articulation when he tried to put words and sentences together so that is what we are working on. His speech therapist says she thinks some of it might be from when he had RSV as a baby and then was sick so much after that and had a few ear infections. That's such a critical time for learning sounds and if his ears were full of fluid that might have contributed to it. He did great with Amy though and she got him making some sounds he hasn't been able to make yet. I was proud of him. So we have some "homework" to work on with him with certain sounds until his next session.
We had Drew and Noah's parent/teacher conferences yesterday. Some parents dread them, but I love just sitting there like a proud parent and hearing how smart, well behaved, likeable, etc my children are. Who wouldn't like that???? I feel myself snickering inside---if only they could see how they act at home! I'm thrilled that my boys are thriving in school and enjoy it so much. They really do have a thirst for knowledge and I hope that continues throughout their lives. When I hear a teacher say that they wish they had a whole classroom full of Noah's, my heart just wants to burst!!

I'm Tagged

Ok, Dianna tagged me. I'm supposed to list 7 random things about myself. I'm trying to be creative and come up with things that aren't obvious about me, but it's difficult. So here goes.







7 Random Facts:







1. I'm now addicted to the show Ghost Hunters. I've watched it faithfully for months and would give anything to go with TAPS to investigate a haunting. The Stanley Hotel episode was the best.







2. I have a strange addiction to Good N Plenty's, candy corn, and candy hearts.







3. I enjoyed High School Musical as much as my boys did.







4. I learned a very important lesson this morning.....do NOT let one of your children put a magnet on your TV screen. I now have two areas of the TV that are green at all times. Oh please Lord, let Todd be able to fix that.







5. I hate celery. (one of the very few things that I hate)







6. I miss the days of getting to sit and devour a whole book in one day.







7. I'm starting to dread Christmas. It's too damn much work and too stressful. I would love to simplify things a lot but would never be able to get my family and friends on board with that.







8. (One more for good measure!) So many people seem to think I've got it all together. Boy, are they seriously mistaken!!!







Happy Halloween!! Here's a picture from a past Halloween. I'll post a current Halloween picture later.





Halloween 2004----Drew, Blake, Noah

Halloween 2005--Aiden the Sweet Pea

I'm Prairie Dawn

Ok, so NOT fair. Todd is Matthew McConaughey, I'm Prairie Dawn from Sesame Street. Every time we see that little blonde haired muppet, Aiden says "That mommy". I'm a freakin' pink muppet with blonde hair! Why can't he look at Heidi Klum and say "That mommy"?
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Can you see the resemblance?? Come to think of it, I may have that same dress in a lovely shade of green.

I don't even have a NOSE for cryin' out loud!

I'm Married to Matthew McConaughey

I'm sitting and reading my trashy celebrity magazine tonight (have to keep up on the gossip you know) and have it opened to a picture of Matthew McConaughey on a surfboard wearing nothing but swimtrunks and looking very yummy.

Aiden points to the picture and says "That daddy". I said "No, honey, that's not daddy". He gets very indignant and points again saying "That daddy". Every time I turned the page, he'd turn it back and say "That daddy". ~sigh~ "Ok, honey, that's your daddy".
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I think Todd will be pleased about that.

School Pictures

We got Drew and Noah's school pictures back yesterday. They turned out so cute but these kids look too grown up to be my babies!!

Whirlwind Weekend

We had a wonderful weekend! We headed for Chicago Friday evening, just Todd, Drew and I. The other two got to stay with Gma and Gpa Klauser. We got in to Tom and Christa's late and hit the sack. Saturday morning Todd and Tom competed in the Urbanathalon in downtown Chicago. http://www.menshealthurbanathlon.com/ They did a 12 mile run along Lake Michigan and by Navy Pier. They had different obstacles along the way. One was they got to go in Soldier Field and had to run up and down all the steps. They finished the race having to climb over the cabs below and climb the 8ft wall in the background only having a rope to help them. They finished the race in 1 hour and 49 minutes. I'm not sure I could WALK it in that time so I think they did awesome. Todd finished 35th in his age group and 427th out of 900 individual runners. There were also some that did it as teams too so I think he said there were about 1400 people competing in all. I love this pic of Todd and Tom at the end of the race with the skyscrapers in the background. It was such a beautiful day for a race. They had a festival set up also with free food, gifts, etc.

Drew gave this huge rock wall a climb. Tom said something about giving him 2 1/2 minutes to climb it. No problem for Drew. He got to the top in 1 minute, 40 seconds. He did awesome! I wish I had given it a try because it looked like so much fun. Once the race was over he also tried the 8 foot wall. He came so close so many times and we just kept cheering for him. He just wouldn't give up and we could tell we couldn't leave until he mastered it. On about his 20th try, he did it!! He was so proud and of course so were we. I was impressed actually....I don't think I could do it and I'm a lot taller!

We got a later start than we'd hoped coming back but still got back in time to enjoy ourselves at Matt's 30th bday party. Now mom and dad have two kids in their 30's. At least they have Nate to keep them young!!! I have a hard time believing my baby brother is 22 though!

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Sunday we relaxed as we were all exhausted. We enjoyed the beautiful weather and played in the backyard. Mom and dad called us that afternoon for a last minute cookout at the cabin. I'm glad we decided to go and enjoy what was probably one of our last beautiful fall weekends. With all the wind we had, Todd brought our kite and Aiden got to fly a kite for the first time. The other two boys flew the airplane Noah got for his birthday. We had an incredible meal on the grill.....bbq pork steaks, potatoes, zucchini, rolls, apples, and guacamole and chips. We ended our weekend on the perfect note.....right as the sun was setting, all 7 of us climbed in the gator for one last ride and counted 19 different deer out running around. It was so beautiful to watch them and we all enjoyed looking for them.

Aiden's 1st Kite Flying Experience

You Say "Ammonia" I Say "Pneumonia"

So I take Noah to the Dr on Monday because he has a horrible cough that has kept the house up for nights on end and we are all wearing down, especially little Noah. We find out he has pneumonia. (Zithromax RULES by the way!) He's doing much better now, thank goodness. I'm glad I took him in. I felt really stupid at first b/c everyone kept asking for symptoms and I'm like "uh, he has a bad cough". But mommy instinct told me there was more than just a cough going on so I'm glad I acted on it. So Wednesday night at State Street Bar & Grill (more on why my kids were in a bar later) Noah comes up to me and says "What's ammonia?" I'm thinking, why is he asking me about cleaning products? So I asked him what he meant. He said Grandpa John gave him some money and said it's because he has ammonia. I explained that he had pneumonia and Grandpa gave that to him to make him feel better. Oh, he says.
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So Wednesday night me and some of my female family members waitress at State Street Bar & Grill. All the tips we got go towards the Avon Breast Cancer Walk we are taking part in early next summer. A lot of family,friends, and co workers showed up to show their support and we raised about $1500 in tips towards the walk! YAY!! But I learned one very important lesson that night. I should never become a waitress. When you have a huge table full of people, trying to keep all their alcohol, meals, and tickets straight is enough to send you screaming out the door. I've worked in retail for years and feel I am very good at taking care of my customers but this was very different. I have a new appreciation for waitressess. That said, it was still a lot of fun, and we raised a good deal of money for a great cause!! (So THAT is why my kids were eating in a bar!)
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We leave for Chicago later today. Todd and his friend Tom are competing tomorrow in the Urbanathalon. Since it's such a quick trip, (we'll be back late tomorrow afternoon for Matt's bday party) Noah and Aiden are staying with Todd's parents. Drew really wanted to go with us and I"m excited about getting to have that special time with him. I know it seems like Aiden and Noah have gotten all the attention lately with both of them having birthdays and Noah being little king and then being sick, so this will be a special time to focus on Drew. He is soo excited too. I'll post all about our trip when we get back.

Whew, my week is over!!!

It was a great week but what a busy one, especially the last few days. Noah had a wonderful birthday. He got to take treats to school thursday and then the gmas,gpas, Uncle Scott, Uncle Matt, Aunt Beth, Blake, Ty and even Uncle Nate was in town and they all came over for dinner. Friday, Aiden and I got to go with Noah's class to Central Fire Station on a field trip. It was a lot of fun and Aiden had a ball hanging with his big bro and friends. Today was Noah's birthday party with his friends. All 11 kids that were invited showed up. Noah must really rate!! All the kids had so much fun and were so cute playing together. I had to include this picture of Noah and Drew together. I thought they looked so cute and brotherly!! The other one is when all of his friends sang happy birthday to him. Since Noah wanted a Halloween themed party, we made plain cupcakes and then I had all different kind of Halloween sprinkles, candy corn, black icing, orange icing, etc and the kids all got to decorate their cupcakes however they wanted. It was a hit and amazingly not too much of a mess. I am looking forward to having nothing to do tomorrow except go out to eat with Todd's parents. Drew and Noah are looking forward to Wednesday because it's Grandparents Day at school and they get to have some fun with Grandpa John and the Grandma's

Happy 6th Birthday Noah!!

My sweet, adorable, little Noah, how did you grow so quickly from this..........................

to this......................(you were the cutest Dumbo ever!)

to this........................................

to this..........................................(ahhh, what a sweet moment)

all the way to this big guy............................

You have grown so quickly that it makes me a bit sad for the days gone by. But I love my time with you now too. You are always such a ham and can say the funniest things and then you turn around and say something so sweet, it melts my heart. I remember when you were Aiden's age (2) and every morning, like clockwork, around 5 am you'd come running into bed with me. I'd spoon you, we'd snuggle up and go back to sleep. Those were some of my best sleeping hours. We just fit together perfectly. I'm so proud of you and the wonderful kid that you are. You'll always be my little guy. I love you Noah!

Oh, and your Dad thinks you have the coolest birthdate...it reads the same front and backwards. 10-11-01

Musical Beds

We played a little game of musical beds last night. Drew and Todd decided not to play (or at least they slept thru it all) but Noah, Aiden and I had the fun. At 3 am Noah comes and climbs in bed with me because he had a bad dream. I cuddled him for a minute and then said we should go back to his bed and I'd lay with him till he was settled. So we climb in his bed and bless his heart, he takes his blanket and covers me up with it. So I snuggle him close till I can tell he's about to drop off to sleep again. Back to my bed I go. At 5 am (Todd is gone already) I hear Aiden calling for me. I go in to see what he wants and he says "I cold" and grabs his blanket. I'm thinking to myself, then why am I here? So I help to tuck him in and realize why he is cold---he is soaked. I don't know how this kid can pee a river at night, but he can do it. Not wanting to mess with changing sheets at that hour, I tell him if he lets me get him changed, he can come sleep with me. Apparently that was good because he excitedly exclaims "I seep in mommy's bed". So off to our bed we go and him and I snuggle in and go back to sleep until almost 7 when Noah comes in to snuggle. My morning would have been complete if Drew had come in to snuggle with us, but he was busy playing Nintendo DS in the living room.

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we met Matt,Beth,Blake,and Ty at the pumpkin patch. I have to say, I don't think I've ever sweat as much at a pumpkin patch as I did yesterday. Whew, it was hot!! Certainly didn't FEEL like fall and it doesn't even really LOOK like fall yet since very few trees have started to change colors. The kids had fun though. We took pictures, took a hay ride down to the corn maze and went through the maze. Then we went and picked out our pumpkins. I tried to snap some pictures of the boys and they tried to cooperate but I could also tell they were hot! In fact, in this picture of Aiden, I think he is dreaming of a tall, icy sippy cup of water! I certainly don't look forward to cold weather but some nice 60's and 70's would sure be nice!!

Flying Monkeys and Early Risers

Does anyone else have flying monkeys?? Apparently I do. I thought they only existed in Wizard of Oz but I guess I was wrong. I always call my boys little monkeys because from the second they were able to pull themself up to a standing position, they were climbing. They are quite limber, agile little guys. I've told the story on my old blog about walking in my bedroom and catching Noah leaping through the air off of the top of my headboard onto my bed. Well he's been teaching little monkey brother some tricks. The boys like to play "pillow pit" as Aiden calls it. They take every pillow and cushion off of the couches and jump off of the couches onto them. I don't like this game because inevitably someone leaps off of the couch and misses the pillows. But that does not deter them for a moment. Last night Noah and Aiden were jumping off of the end table in the living room. I told them to stop because someone would get hurt and why don't they got play in Aiden's room. So they go in there and are playing good. I'm in the kitchen cooking supper and decide to go peek in on them. They aren't there. I hear giggling coming from MY bedroom where the door is CLOSED. This can't be good. I walk in and Noah and Aiden are standing on my dresser. Noah says "Mom, Aiden can jump off of the dresser onto your bed now" With that, Aiden takes a flying leap onto my bed. I about die. The little monkey climbs right back up on my dresser like it's nothing. There's one more room in the house that will have to be off limits to him.
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So this morning at 5:51am I hear Drew get up to go to the bathroom. That's very early so I assume he'll go back to bed. I hear the TV come on. So I go in and he's in his school clothes getting ready to watch TV! I don't think so. I send him back to bed amidst much grumbling. I get settled in bed and hear Noah get up to go potty. A bit later he comes in and says he has a bad tummy ache. So I'm just waiting for Aiden to get up because he's the one that has been my little early bird lately. But no, today of all days, he sleeps in until 6:45. Is there some unwritten law among siblings that if one sleeps in, at least one other one has to get up early??? Why can't they all sleep in on the same day and cut mom a break?? So my eyes are crossing as I type. Guess I need to get myself to bed. Morning comes way too early around here lately.
(btw: Noah's tummy ache was fine. It didn't amount to anything. Usually a tummy ache around here means a big dump is soon to follow)
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Notice: I figured out how to put music on my blog!! Take a listen. This song always reminds me of Todd and my 3 beautiful boys. I really couldn't ask for more than them!
Now if I could just figure out how to make it automatically play when the page loads..........