Boo!

Another Halloween has come and gone. The kids had a great time trick-or-treating and Sophie had a fun harvest party at school today. All in all, the kids are full of sugar and Mommy and Daddy are exhausted! Here's a few pictures from the evening!

Noah is ready to go! My little cow was running around yelling "Moo!" everywhere.

This is scary Cinderella.

The proverbial porch picture.

OK, so maybe Noah wasn't too fond of being a cow on Halloween. It was too cute to pass up and I figure it is our last Halloween where Tim and I will ever have any real influence on his costume. He adjusted quite well and was the happiest cow by the end of the night!!!

Uh-Oh

Noah had his first experience in the thinking corner. He thought not listening was funny. He also thought it would be really funny to throw his dinner across the kitchen. Daddy didn't find it very funny.

Too Cute!

Like an old couple hanging out on the back porch. These two looked so cute while sitting in their chairs....it was like they were watching the sunset together!

Never Again.....Until January

About once every three months, Tim convinces me to go to the Dollar store with him. About every three months, I end up regretting my decision. For some reason, Tim thinks this is one of the best places on earth and doesn't understand why I don't buy certain essentials there. He has accused me of thinking I'm too good for the Dollar store. He thinks the Dollar store can easily replace Target. Cleaning supplies, paper supplies, coloring books, markers, you name it, the Dollar store has it and is well worth the $1 you spend for each item.

The last time I believed him, I bought dish soap that was basically colored water...no suds. I bought carpet spot cleaner that changed the color of my carpet and hardened it to a crust. I bought the placebo version of OxyClean. Tim bought oatmeal pies that crumbled the moment you looked at them. We bought washable markers that....well, might as well have been labeled Sharpie.

When am I going to learn? When is HE going to learn? Why do I succumb every time?

Pumpkin Patch 2008

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch this weekend. The weather was nice and cool on the coast in Half Moon Bay and the kids had a ton of fun picking out pumpkins and feeding the animals!

Here's Sophie showing Noah how it's done. I thought they would both be scared of feeding the goats, but not these two!! They loved every second of it!

Noah is super excited to pick out his pumpkins, can't you tell??

Here's Sophie posing before she picks out her pumpkin!

Here's one of many attempts to get my kids to look at the camera at the same time with a halfway decent smile.....no such luck!

Noah finds one just his size.

Playing Together

Lately, Noah and Sophie have been playing a lot together. It's very nice to witness and especially nice when they get along and have fun together. Luckily, good 'ol blocks and Legos are very popular in our house and they always seem to keep them entertained and playing nice...for the most part!

I was hoping to just get a shot of them actually playing, but because they are my children, they sensed the camera from a mile away and felt the need to stop what they were doing and strike a pose.

Playing nicely didn't last too long when Sophie decided to sit on the bucket. Here's a nice picture of Noah conveniently trying to push his sister off of it!

NKOTB For Life

I'd like to take all of us back to 1989, approximately the time I convinced myself I was going to marry Joey McIntyre. I thought we were destined to meet and at the time he was sooo much older than me, but it didn't matter....we would figure out a way for him to get beyond the fact that I was 12 and he was 17. I knew everything about him....or at least got the latest scoop from my favorite magazines, Teen Beat and Bop. Well, on October 10th, I revisited those days and I will gladly say I'm still smiling!

For my birthday, I was treated to this concert last Friday night and we had the best time EVER! I didn't care that I was among thousands of other 30-something women dancing and singing along to songs like "Step by Step" and "Please Don't Go Girl." For one night, I wasn't glued to the news watching our entire economy fall apart. I wasn't dealing with two hyper kids zapping every ounce of energy out of me. I wasn't griping about the amount of money I just spent to fill up my SUV or the cost of milk at my local Safeway. I wasn't at home checking my work e-mail out of fear that I forgot to follow up on an issue. For one night, I was able to put that aside and take myself back to a time when perfecting the side ponytail and finding the perfect jeans for pegging were tops on my priority list. I sang, I screamed, I had fun with people I care about, and I walked away fully entertained and energized. Thanks for such a great night Michelle and Julie!

Noah's Favorite Activity

Noah loves art time. Not only does he enjoy making his mark all around the house, but he actually loves to sit and color for a decent period of time (when I say decent, it's only about 15-20 minutes, but that's a long time for a little boy!). He's starting to draw pretty good circles and is getting better and better at trying to copy Sophie's colorings.

Sidenote: You may be wondering, "Does Noah wear the same shirt every single day?" Well, most of my pictures are taken on the weekend and Tim insists that everyone wear Ohio State gear every single Saturday (I typically rebel). So, Sophie is usually sporting her cheerleader outfit and Noah is always in his jersey. Just thought I'd throw that out there in case people were wondering if he owns more than one shirt.

Fantasy Football is still my nemesis

I still hate it. In fact, every year I think I hate it even more. People keep telling me to try it out before judging it, but I refuse. To be honest, if I did actually try it out and enjoy it, chances are our kids would be taken from us due to neglect. I say this because every Sunday, Tim hides from the rest of us behind his laptop and typically isolates himself from anyone and everyone that lives with him. Tim has taught Noah to yell "FOOTBALL!!" every weekend morning but Noah is not quite old enough to keep an 8 HOUR ATTENTION SPAN like his father, so they can't share this father/son bond quite yet.

It's not so bad that Tim is totally distracted every Sunday, but at the end of the day when Tim finally shuts the laptop down, he goes into crazy clean-up mode. He scolds us and forces all of us to clean up together (because apparently I let the kids run wild and crazy all day long). He becomes this drill sergeant with this insane burst of energy. I mean, seriously, is he trying to make up for the last 8 hours in front of the TV and computer??? I don't think so!

This is fun!

Sophie decided she wanted to see what all the fuss has been about with the Wii. She almost beat Daddy in bowling tonight and she just may be the next Maria Sharapova!

It doesn't take much

Give a little boy a couple of sticks and leave him alone.....he will be entertained forever!

San Francisco

We hung out in San Francisco over the weekend and enjoyed a nice sunny day! Here's a couple of pics of the kids.

Here's Sophie with the Golden Gate Bridge behind her.

Noah and his trademark smirk!

Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya

We were in San Francisco this weekend and decided to check out the press conference for the upcoming fight between Manny Pacquaio and Oscar De La Hoya. Tim was very excited to see the boxers and even had a chance to take a picture with Pacquaio's famous trainer, Freddie Roach, and boxing's biggest promoter, Bob Arum. Since Tim is pretty much a fan of every sport under the sun, he too, has gotten me hooked on boxing! Here's a few pictures of the press conference.Tim and Freddie Roach. He has trained some big name boxers and trained De La Hoya for his fight against Floyd Mayweather last year. He is currently Pacquaio's trainer.

Manny Pacquaio is a very tiny guy in person! He's our pick to win the fight!

Oscar De La Hoya...this picture does not do him justice. He is one good-looking guy!

Tim and Bob Arum

Where is the love?

In an earlier post, I mentioned how Sophie likes to crawl into bed with me in the early morning after Daddy leaves for work. Well, Sophie woke up a little early and walked into our bedroom. She noticed Daddy was still in bed because he pressed the snooze button about ten times. She rubs her eyes and yells, "What is HE still doing here?" She pouted, went potty, and returned to her own room while slamming the door. And a good morning to you, too, Sophie!!!