go Lightning!

The torrential five day downpours last week resulted in Dylan's soccer tournament being cancelled this past weekend. I honestly can't say I cried any tears over that one. They were scheduled to play three games spread out over an entire day and I just don't know how we would have kept Logan occupied and happy all of that time. Honestly, I think 6 year old boys top out after 2 games tops but hey, I'm not in charge of the soccer club.

At any rate, with news of the cancellation, we joined Dylan's team, The Lightning, at a local pizza joint Saturday so the coaches could give the boys their trophies. After which I promptly came home and took 4 Motrin, because the acoustics of having 8 six year old boys (plus siblings) in a pizza parlor was oh, I don't know, almost deafening!

And exactly three minutes after this photo was taken, Dylan's trophy fell on the floor and the head broke right off. Super glue saved the day and we ended another soccer season on a high note.

the big C

Two weeks away from Thanksgiving and all I can think of is Christmas already. Got some holiday shopping started already, thinking about teacher gift ideas, cookies and baking projects for the season, gatherings of families and friends, decorating the house and tree.. Thanksgiving gets the shaft, especially when they start playing Christmas music the day after Halloween and make you feel like you’re already behind. But I love Thanksgiving in all of its stuffing-gravy- laden-giving thanks-and-don't-have-to-shop-for-any-gifts goodness.

I love, love, love the holiday season. So many traditions, and getting to relive all of them and creating new ones with our boys is what it’s all about. We usually buy our live tree (ahhh, the smell of Fraser Fur) on Thanksgiving weekend. If you’re going to spend the money and go to all that work to decorate it, it may as well be up as long as possible.

But come January 2nd I’m more than ready to take it all down and get back to our regularly scheduled program. My friend Maryann and I were just talking about this the other day and she uttered this blog-worthy quote of the season.

“Christmas is like an orgasm. All the buildup, all the preparation, all the work, the excitement and then BAM. It’s over. Good night. Stop touching me.”

all the single ladies

...just in case there are any 3 year old ladies out there on the prowl, I present Logan's spec sheet from preschool.

good for the heart and soul

I have a secret. If you ever, truly need to rejuvenate your mind and spirit don't waste your money at a spa. Collect five wonderful girlfriends, pack a suitcase full of un-mom clothes that make you feel hip and head to a swanky, trendy hotel for three days of kid-free, schedule-free bliss.

This past weekend, the ladies I still refer to as my "new mom friends" and I did just that. These ladies I befriended at the new moms support group at the hospital when Dylan was born. We all bonded over becoming first time moms at the same time. Weeks of talking about breastfeeding, colic, and whether or not to return to work brought us close, and led to bonding over playdates, dinner parties and watching our kids grows into toddlers, preschoolers and school agers. We all communicate online every single day and I honestly don't think I would have survived the catapult into mommyhood without the support, humor and camaraderie of this incredibly smart, talented and vivacious group of like-minded moms.

We do an annual girls weekend and we've rented houses and hotel room, locally, to celebrate ourselves and our friendship. Two of my friends in this group have moved from here to Atlanta, so we decided to bring the party down south this year.


We arrived last Friday the 6th which also happened to be my 38th birthday. Checked into the W Hotel in Buckhead and let the good times roll for two nights and three days.

We all had makeovers at the MAC counter Saturday before heading out on the town.

This is more make up than I've worn in the last 15 years combined. It was fun to be glamorous for an evening and learn some tips. My usual routine is some Chapstick and a little mascara, so this was quite an upgrade.

one last time

Last week, Mom and I took the kids to one of our favorite farms for one last spin thru the fall festival before it closed down until next year. We'll see you next September Cox Farms!

Moms Gone Wild 2009

Tomorrow morning, I'll be flying to HOTlanta with three other hip mommy girlfriends. We'll be meeting up with two other hip mommy girlfriends who live there and getting our Relax on at a posh, swanky hotel, while eating bon-bons poolside for our Third Annual Moms Gone Wild weekend getaway. We have a lot of fun things planned and lots of blissful kid-free time for things like girl talk, room cocktails, chick flicks, shopping and reading smut magazines. But here are some things I will NOT be doing while I'm there:

• wiping any little butts
• breaking up fights over the Wii
• picking up any toys
• ordering off the kids menu
• cooking
• laundry
• listening to any whining
• fastening anyone into car seats
• wiping up spilled chocolate milk
• shuttling anyone to soccer
• playing Matchbox cars and monster trucks

Its not that I don't love my life and my job as Domestic Vice President and CFO of Household Affairs. Really, I do. And I will miss the boys (all three of them) and be chomping at the bit Sunday evening to get home and squeeze them tight. But sometimes mommies just need a break to be a girlfriend for a couple of days.

Muhhahahahahaha!

This summer, Dylan had his sights set on being Indiana Jones and never changed his mind once - no doubt this was inspired by playing hours of Wii Lego Indiana Jones. He loved his fake scruffy beard too. Logan had a few costume ideas of his own, and was heavily persuaded to go with something we already had in the dress-up bin. He wore his astronaut costume proudly (although the hat part was a no-go) and now that I think about it, the costume was appropriate since his massive amounts of candy loot will surely send him blasting off to outerspace.

We had a fantastic Halloween night, the best ever, according to Dylan. My neighbor Paige and I took the kids around the neighborhood and Logan was a total professional.

He and Dylan gleefully ran from house to house exclaiming "Happy Halloween!" at the top of their lungs, Logan holding his handmade loot bag by his teeth, deciding that candy is better than presents and therefore Halloween trumps Christmas (I think they'll change their tune on Christmas morning). We had a dramatic moment when Dylan realized he had dropped his whip somewhere along the path but we backtracked and found it, saving the evening.

A few houses along our way went all out, with extensive haunted garages and ghoulish graveyards. I'd love to do this one year. We have a strobe light and a few props we put out every year and it adds so much fun to the night. Monk Andrew bought some dry ice and created a spooky cauldron effect setting up on our front porch to hand out candy, drink his magic potions, and scare the heck out of unsuspecting trick-or-treaters with a giant inflatable spider rigged to a fishing pole, suspended and hidden to pounce upon them as they reached for the candy bowl.

I guess all the excitement gave Dylan a little Halloween gas, because as I'm trying to capture Andrew and his gruesome drink, Dylan accidentally slipped one out while on our neighbor John's lap. Turn up your volume. Classic!

Another neighborhood family hosts an annual pre-trick-or-treat pizza/beer and juice box bash, and this year, with Halloween falling on Saturday, we ventured back over for some post evening bonfire and movie madness. This morning, Logan demonstrated the tongue staining power of high fructose corn syrup.

a spooktacular preschool party

Logan's preschool Halloween party was a few days ago, and I'm totally slacking on the photo download. Its been a busy, busy week here and with trick-or-treat just hours away, its not slowing down anytime soon.

But alas....here are the oh-so-cute photos from Logan's parade and party. We made Spooky Stew, decorated Halloween cookies, played games and did freeze dance to the Monster Mash. It was a ghouly, groovy time.

Croom Fall Fest 2009

We always know its fall when the annual Croom Fall Fest rolls around. The party takes place at the Harrison family farm, and believe you me, we've had many a party there throughout the years; fall and all other times of the year. Yes, that farm has seen some times.

I honestly can't even remember when the annual fall party tradition began....long before I was a wife and a mom. Back when you could roll up to a party with nothing more than a 12 pack and a sweatshirt. Back before you could take pictures throughout the party on your Blackberry and post them to Facebook in real time. Back before we cared about having a huge spread of food...when a bag of Funyuns was more than enough. And though the party has transformed from a drunken kegfest to a family friendly cookout with a smidge of beer on the side and maybe some hot apple cider with or without rum, we still enjoy it and look forward to seeing some of my oldest and dearest friends every fall. In fact, three fourths of my wedding party was there yesterday now that I think about it!

the right cut

You know that old saying "a job is only hard if you have the wrong tools?" Me neither. But it could be an old saying because its true when it comes to pumpkin carving. This time of year, you can usually find our house by the sound of grunting and groaning and swearing and sweating while scraping the guts of pumpkins all over the kitchen table. I believe in years past, Andrew has even been known to break out the power tools to get the job done.

Then a few weeks ago, we happened upon this little gem at the Williams Sonoma outlet.

A bonafide professional pumpkin carving kit. You know how you buy those plastic ones every year, and every year they snap right in half? Yea, well.... these babies are stainless steel. Hoo haw!

Today we took them for a spin while carving our jack-o-lanterns and man-oh-man, it was actually a joy to carve those suckers. Sharp, sturdy and not a chance of breaking in mid-carve.

Photos of said jack-o-lanterns coming soon. I'm still learning how to use my new digital camera.

kingpins

We have a couple of bowling fools in our house. And with all this rain lately, the local bowling alley has seen its fair share of us. Nothing says quality family time like a pitcher of Oktoberfest, cheese pizza, listening to 'Rock the Casbah' while trying to pick up a spare. Awesome.

lists and hiccups

It was a long, rainy weekend and although we did a whole lot of nothing, we actually got quite a few things crossed off the list.

• Hung new blinds in all upstairs windows - check
• Purchased new digital camera - check
• Carpets shampooed throughout house - check
• Eating our way through giant pile of FedEx'ed homemade cookies compliments of Grandma Celia - check
• Watched (again) Monsters vs. Aliens and heard 3 year old repeat over and over "I'm a brave, brave President!" - check

However, in the midst of it all, we had two little hiccups from which we're still recovering. Logan came down with Croup. And my laptop totally and utterly crashed.

Logan is on day 3 of steroids and it seems to have settled into a run-of-the-mill cold/cough. And with nice weather here again for the remainder of the week, hopefully we can get outside and get a good dose of natural Vitamin D.

Andrew completely disassembled my laptop last night and without going into a long, boring tirade full of angry, violent words about Microsoft Vista, let's just say he was able to miraculously save the day ONCE AGAIN with his sheer genius and computer know-how. I, on the other hand, would have probably dropped the computer off the roof just for the satisfaction of hearing it shatter all over the driveway. So although I'm back up and running, I'm a little lost without some of my files and saved interweb bookmarks. I'll live.

freezing our pumpkins off

Yesterday, Mom and I braved the atypical October 40 degree weather and accompanied Logan's preschool on his very first field trip. It was not choice weather for a field trip; we all wore a good four layers or so. But, at least we were dry. Shortly after we left, the downpour arrived and its not going to stop raining for the next four days. Soggy pumpkins indeed. And not very good picture taking weather. My hands were too frozen to remove from my pockets very often.

Oh well, it was nice to spend time with his class, and especially nice for Super Grandma to join us! Afterwards, we were off to the warmth of Red Robin and a big, fat cheeseburger.

Logan's preschool experience so far has been excellent. His teachers are so nice, creative and sweet, he just adores them and loves going to school. And his class is very small, with 8 total kids. He is going to a church based preschool, which is a new experience for us. I'm really happy with it, and feel fortunate he got one of their much sought after spots. He's so proud of the projects he brings home from school, and he will get to perform in a little "Praise and Celebration" ceremony next week in the santuary. I'm sure it will be totally adorable.