So much

I haven't posted in a while and there's so many things that have happened in the last 10 days.  In no particular order...  We made it through the gigantic clothing sale.  I ended up selling enough to clear close to $400.00 which is super exciting to me!  I got the dreaded call from the nurse at Kate's school that she and several other kids in her class had lice.  After 2 separate products (Thanks Lice MD) we are totally lice free.  No one else got it thank goodness!

We went to Tulsa and spent an early Thanksgiving with Daniel's family(I'll post a few pics later).  I spent 3 days cleaning my house top to bottom with a baby in tow and my Mom and Dad joined us for Thanksgiving.  I cooked a turkey for the first time and it turned out pretty good.  I took some cute pics of the kiddos (post to follow later with pics).  I black Friday shopped for the first time (although I tagged along once in high school- full post about that experience later).

We all got sick and I'm starting to get over it finally even though my throat isn't quite ready to let it go.  In true Aidan style he decided to teethe right in the middle of having a sore throat.  Poor kid!  My house has lights on it, the tree is up, but not decorated, and Christmas shopping is in full swing.

Daniel leaves tomorrow for the first of 2 business trips in 2 weeks.  Boo to him!  First he heads to Austin until Thursday night and back for the weekend and then off to Chicago for most of next week.  It must be nice to have someone else pay for a little vacation and give you no less then 50.00 to spend on yourself at dinner alone.  Kate is at school for her first day back after 5 days off, Aidan is thinking of attacking the Christmas tree, and I've got work to do.  So much, so much.  More later.

Who needs toys when you have a box and some socks?

Don't call DHS.  We only do this occasionally.

How to annoy me

I kind of despise people coming to my door unannounced.  Especially if we've never met.  I get this lovely trait from my Mother.  As a child we lived just outside the city limits and consequently had very few door to door salesmen, traveling evangelists, or people on a mission to scam you come to our door.  But when we did... Watch out!  My Mother would go into this panic mode.  She'd start shooshing us, telling everyone to remain still, and we were to do nothing to alert the "intruder" that anyone was home.  Growing up this was highly amusing to me.  I couldn't understand why she wouldn't just answer the door already!  I get it now.  As an adult I now wonder as I see myself doing the same thing- Was she and am I afraid we'll offend the person on the other side of the door by letting it become painfully obvious we're home and just don't care to talk to whoever it is?  Or maybe its the craziness in us that thinks deep down we've been targeted out of all the possible homes for a random attack.  Whatever it is it just plain annoys me to no end.

This whole week I've spent far too many hours to count- washing, ironing, hanging, typing tags, hanging tags, and getting ridiculous amounts of clothing, toys, and other stuff ready for a consignment sale.  It's a daunting task and if you're a little obsessive compulsive like I am it can pay off big.  So in an effort to save money I made my poor husband stay late at work to print out my tags so we didn't have to go out and buy a new printer cartridge for our printer.  It was in the 7:30 at night range, it was dark and cold outside, Aidan and I had just taken a relaxing and much needed bath, and I was doing what anyone should be allowed to do in their own home... I was walking around in just my underwear.

Yep I like to walk around naked or semi-naked and you know you do too!  As I told my husband, "If you can't walk around naked in your own home, where can you?"  My OCD over getting clothes ready to sell had cost me getting clothes put away that we're actually keeping and I was standing in front of my living room window (the shades WERE down) and looking through a mountain of clothes for a pair of warm pants and a shirt when it happened.  Tap, tap, tap.  I froze.  Then I thought of my Mother and thought what would she do?  I ducked, swung my head around to Kate, and through gritted teeth, hissed "Shhh!"  Then Aidan let out a high pitched squeal, I realized the TV was blaring, the lights were all on and I knew we were doomed.  They know.  We're home!

Who comes a knocking at 7:30, in the cold and in the dark?  Oh my word- I was just standing in front of the window topless and what if they could tell!  I ran up the stairs and grabbed some clothes.  Then the doorbell rang.  "Ahh, they weren't going away!"  I thought about screaming, "I have a gun!  Go away!"  What is wrong with me?  Through the corner of the shade from the top of the stairs I could see someone standing there against the railing.  Waiting.  Waiting to kill me!  No probably waiting for me to answer the door so they could give me some sob story about how they're locked out of their car that's in Georgia and they're trying to make some walking money to get there.    

I grabbed the phone and called Daniel instead.  "You better be close!"  Turned out he was and by the time he got here my would be attacker/salesman/ concerned neighbor wanting to alert me to the nudity clause for our neighborhood had left and wasn't even in our backyard stalking us!  But seriously people! It's dark, it's at a time of night that people with children could potentially be getting them ready for bed, and I don't care that we don't live in a big city.  You just don't do that!  OK I'm done being crazy for the time being.  But Mom since I know you're reading this you can be proud in the fact that I now know.  I get it.  What exactly do I get?  I'm not sure, but I get it.

First snow

Right now we're getting our first snow of the season.  Kate was delighted when she got out of school.  Aidan just wanted to be done with it so he could come home and take a nap.  Kind of a switch from a week ago.  Even the cats have had to resort to snuggling next to the vent to stay warm.  Brrr.

Girls night out

I don't particularly remember if as a young child I had yet caught the shopping bug.  I remember as a tween coveting Guess jeans and clothes made by Esprit.  I remember when penny loafers were all the rage and the little plastic jelly bracelets were a must have.  Did you know those bracelets are back in style?  Kate brought one home from school the other day.  But I suppose I don't recall wanting anything much as a five year old besides toys I'm sure.

As an adult I get a pure sense of joy out of shopping.  If I'm in the right mood and feel like searching for a bargain I'm over the moon when I find a good one.  I even enjoy grocery shopping just so I can see the fridge and pantry stocked with stuff.  My husband doesn't exactly feel the same way.  The faster he can get out of there the better.

Kate had a near melt down the other night at Dillards over her "need" to own a pair of Sketchers shoes.  Really?  Sketchers?  Not Uggs or something really ridiculously expensive?  Sketchers I can handle.  So since her jeans were getting too short, her shirts were getting too short, and she appeared at least somewhat interested in fashion I thought it might be fun to take her on a little girls only shopping trip.  You'll have to remember where I live.  I won't mention the specific city in case I'm being blog stalked by some weirdo but we have a mall and I wouldn't exactly call it the best in America.

We headed to Dillards and a few other stores and she would have been happier if I'd let her come home with discarded tags off clothes she found on the floor and a couple stuffed animals.  Whatever store we were in she managed to find the few non clothing items in her section and seemed to gravitate towards them.  She did express interest in a creepy furry jacket that would have made the Real housewives of New Jersey proud.  But she kept asking if we could go home or if she had to try the jeans on.

She did get excited to try on a pair of the precious Sketchers shoes which I will admit are cute but any shoe that requires me to help her get it on is not happening.  You practically would have to oil your foot up with some Crisco to get that thing on.  No zippers, no ties, just a "slip-on" and 1 child and 2 adults sweating it out later she had the blister-inducing thing on her foot.  Sorry kid- like I said not happening.

We did come home with a few pairs of jeans and a few shirts with plenty of pink, purple, glitter, and sequins to bulk up her fall and winter wardrobe.  She seemed happy but would have liked it better if I had acted as her personal shopper and she could have stayed home and watched iCarly.

So I suppose we're not quite at the marathon girls shopping trips stage yet.  I'll give it time.  I imagine before long she'll be begging me for those Uggs and declaring that Sketchers are so yesterday.  

Cat hotel

For over a year we've had this little visitor coming around our house.  We've spotted him all around the neighborhood but don't know who he belongs to.  He looks like he eats and I've never fed him but he keeps coming back.  Lately around 10:00 or so every night he checks in on our front porch and sleeps here for the night.  Sometimes he requests a late check-out to catch up on his zzz's.

Summer Fun (Oh wait it's November)

On Saturday we took advantage of the warm weather and headed over to a park.  Aidan enjoyed his 1st time in a dirty park swing and Kate got to expel some of her endless supply of energy.  

Saturday is good for blogging

I've been slacking on my blogging duties due to just being busy and tired and not having anything I wanted to talk about.  But I figured I'd share some random updates.

• Aidan had his 6 month check-up.  He's up to 28 inches and 19 pounds, 12 ounces.  He's doing good.  Have I mentioned he now has 4 teeth.  3 on bottom and the newest 1 on top.  Perfect for those times when his nose is stopped up and he gets frustrated while nursing.  I refuse to talk about anything related to his sleep. He's not crawling yet but I expect it to be soon.  He's over avocados but loves everything else he's had so far and did pretty good when he had to get 5 shots at his check-up.  So sad. :-(

• Kate is loving Kindergarten.  She tells us stories of chasing boys and "best-friend picking contests" and seems to be fully embracing the social butterfly roll.  She continues to amaze me at how fast she's picking up reading and what a sweet big sister she is to Aidan.

• I've been busy getting mountains of clothing washed and ready to iron and hang up for a children's consignment sale that's coming up in 2 weeks.  I put some of Kate's old clothes in the Spring sale before Aidan was born and made over $300.00.  So I figured I'd do the same with some fall/winter stuff.  Perfect way to make some extra Christmas shopping money!

• My husband continues to "amuse" me by instant messaging me from upstairs, dressing Aidan in socks that are pulled up to his knees and when asked why says, "because he's a playa" (whatever that means), and telling me my OCD over getting some stains out of Kate's old clothes is a good thing and means I could have done what he does.  (Again-whatever that means.)  Using a toothbrush to scrub out stains does not make someone OCD.  Does it?  Does it?

• The November weather here is starting to irritate me.  It was like 80 degrees outside yesterday.  I had dealt with the cold being here.  I had packed away summer clothes.  Now Kate had to dig out shorts today so we can go to the park and not be too hot.  What's up with that?  I'm ready for sweaters and boots.  Come back fall!

• I'm cooking chicken noodle soup in the crock-pot today and it smells yummy!  Too bad when I planned out my menu over a week ago it was 50 degrees and I stupidly assumed it would be similar weather by the time I made it.  Oh well.  Who says you can't have soup when it's hot outside?

• Thanksgiving is coming up soon and we're hosting for my Mom and Dad.  I'm ready for the holidays.  I told Daniel he should just go ahead and put up the Christmas lights today since it's nice outside.  He wasn't all that amused with me.  

• UPDATE: The chicken noodle soup tased even better than it smelled and Kate not only agreed to eat the carrots, celery, and onions in the soup but asked for some more orange and green things.  What is going on around here?  It must be the heat.

Can't help but make you smile

I shot this a couple weeks ago while Daniel was gone in between fevers, puking, coughing, and other good times.  Enjoy!

I'm pretty sure he's smart

We started doing baby signing with Aidan about a week ago.  We did it with Kate and it was wonderful.  If you have a baby I highly recommend it.  But we were a little surprised to find him already signing "more" while I was feeding him.  Clearly eating and letting us know he enjoys it is a priority.  You'd never know by looking at the poor skinny thing though. Watch and marvel at our little genius.

Halloween: √

Halloween was a success.  Trick or treating at the zoo: √  Trick or treating at the mall: √ Trick or treating in the neighborhood: √  Kate had a great time.  This was the first year she was really into it.  She fell only 3 times, filled her bag with far too much candy, and requested to go to bed at the end of the night.

Aidan wasn't as enthusiastic as she was.  He slept, stared at all the kids, and generally had the look of boredom combined with a why on earth am I wearing this dumb outfit look on his face all night.  Everyone kept calling him a bear and I'll admit if you didn't see the tail (he was sitting on it) or his feet (he kept trying to eat them) he actually did look like a bear.  He was cute but none of the pictures turned out that well.  There's always too much stress on holidays to try and capture the perfect pictures, that they always seem to end up looking forced, out of focus from the rush, and in general kind of blah.  I don't do well under pressure.

The weather was also a little un-Halloweenish.  Yes I made that word up and it totally freaked out the spell check.   Mid-seventies is not really the best weather for a baby wearing a big furry suit.  We also discovered we live 1 street off the highly desired trick or treating area and ended up not having all that many kids.  I think we missed a lot while we were gone though.  So here you go... Pics of the night!

Sittin' pretty

It's a mouse!  It's a bear!  It's a monkey!?

I'm a genie.

Lost his feet.

Sparkly eyes

B-O-R-I-N-G

Posing at the mall

Mad scientist guy

Rock Princess with not so rockish hair.  I should have used more hair spray.

Dr. Kill or Dr. Whoever?  He got called both.

Princess weirdo