gleeked out

Did you watch Glee tonight? And if you didn't, why the heck not? Holy smokes! Glee is awesome!

Well, their final song reminds me of my all-time favorite wedding moment EVER! My BFF from law school, let's call her M, was dying to dance to Umbrella as her wedding song with her husband. He looked at her like she was a lunatic, so she told her dad about how disappointed she was. Of course, because her dad is awesome, he said, "well, then we'll do it ourselves!"

So for her father-daughter dance, they started off with a regular old slow dancing dance, and about halfway through, BUSTED A MOVE to Umbrella. None of us knew, and I am not kidding you when I say, I laughed until I cried. It was awesome, on so many levels. Not the least of which both M and her dad are unbelievable dancers. It was crazy and amazing and so much fun. Just like my wonderful friend!

Ok, now go watch tonight's episode of Glee! Love love love!

at-ti-tude

Josie spilled her cereal snack on the living room floor tonight and as I surveyed the mess, I said, "Uh-oh, you need to pick up all that cereal, Josie."

She answered, "No, mommy pick up my cereal. I no wanna pick up my cereal. Mommy pick it up."

Um, excuse me? I assured her that I would NOT be picking up anyone's cereal and she could either pick it up right that minute, or go up to her crib for some quiet time. Without responding, and without making eye contact, she walked over and started picking up the cereal. But I swear, she refused to acknowledge that I'd asked her to pick it up! It was as if she was willing to do it, but didn't want to let me know she was doing it just because I was making her do it!

Oh, the teenage years are going to be SO MUCH FUN.

buzz better be on his best behavior

In other AMAZING news, we are leaving for Florida on Thursday! For 2.5 weeks! I know! Crazy! I am slightly concerned about the whole staying with in-laws for 2.5 weeks thing, not because I don't love my in-laws (because I do), but because staying with ANYONE for 2.5 weeks could be challenging.

For any would-be home robbers out there, Josh is staying here for a huge chunk of that time and then we have house guests for the rest, so don't even think about it.

Anyway, our schedule is psychotic for the trip. We are going to Sarasota for 3 days, then Orlando for 6 days, then back to Sarasota for 2 days, then back to Orlando for DISNEY (more on that later) for 2 days, then back to Sarasota for 3 days, then on to Fort Lauderdale for 3 days. And then home. Phew. I'm exhausted just writing that. I'm hoping for good weather and well-behaved kids. If I have the well-behaved kids part, it can rain every single freaking day for all I care.

Most exciting out of that whole trip is that rite of passage for parents and their children- Disney! I am ridiculously excited. RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED! I keep picturing Gabe's little face when he sees the castle, when he rides It's a Small World, when he sees BUZZ LIGHTYEAR! He may pee his pants. Seriously. We decided, after not much consideration at all, to leave Josie with my in-laws. I've been shocked, honestly, at the amount of flack we've gotten about that decision, when to us it was a no brainer. Josie would think it was fun, she definitely would, and you know, maybe she'd be great. But in our minds, we are going for 2 days, and trying to make the most out of those 48 hours. This means non-stop walking, rides, long and possibly hot days, and crowds. Josie won't remember, and she doesn't know characters and she is hesitant about rides. She isn't going to love it the way we KNOW Gabe is going to love it.

We never get to spend one on one time with Gabe, and I am looking forward to every little second I get to spend alone with him. I plan on inhaling that tiny little person, holding the tiny little hand, eating up every word he says. I cannot wait. He is at this perfect age where he is excited about everything, but scared of nothing. He doesn't get spooked by scary rides or pirates or ghosts, and he loves all characters, girly or boyish or in-between. It's going to be awesome.

I have my encyclopedia of Disney information, and we're going at what should be one of the best and least crowded times of the year (first week in December), and we're making all our final reservations and plans now, but I'm still looking for more advice. We've done Disney without kids before, but never before with little ones. Please do share all your tips! In return, I'll share any secrets I learn while we're away! In particular, did you have a favorite hotel that didn't cost a fortune? Also, is there a way to get cheaper park tickets? Those suckers cost a fortune!

Oh also, did anyone take preschoolers to Disney Hollywood Studios? We're considering it just because of the Toy Story ride, but I hadn't planned on it initially. Should we just do Magic Kingdom for 2 days?

am I going to start talking to myself soon too?

A couple of weeks ago, October 22nd to be exact, I found myself looking at opening night of Paranormal Activity 2 and no one to go with. I tried to convince my college roommate to go with me, since she and I go to all the scary movies, but she refused. Something about babies in the movie and her being pregnant blah blah blah. I asked around, but most people met my question with a horrified stare akin to me asking them if they ate puppies for breakfast.

So, I went alone.

It was my first solo movie ever, and I was a little nervous, but I'd recently seen this cute little video about learning to embrace being alone without being lonely, so I thought, what the hell. I'll try it.

It was, well, great! I did feel a little bit like I had leprosy, if I'm being honest, because of that whole ridiculous buffer we put between us and other people in movie theaters, so while the theater was packed, I had several empty seats around me because no one would sit next to me. And there were a couple of scary parts in the movie where I pulled my knees up to my chest and glanced around me wondering if anyone would try to kill me. And I did sprint, actually SPRINT, to my car afterward in case anyone decided to attack me. But besides that, it was great!

So great that I decided to do it again tonight. I was bummed because I mistakenly made plans to go see a musical with friends on the same day that I am throwing a baby shower. I know, DUH. I'm not entirely sure how it happened because I was the main planner of the musical outing, and went to pick up tickets at the theater and planned lunch with friends and didn't realize until today that the shower was Saturday rather than Sunday. The DATE I PICKED FOR THE SHOWER. I know, I know, I don't know how this happened either. Obviously the shower is light years more important, but still, I was seriously disappointed.

Anyway, I called Josh and told him about my foul mood and he suggested I go out tonight. Grab a coffee, go read a book, see a friend, whatever. I started to call a couple of people, and then remembered that I'd been dying to go see The Town, and figured, why not go see it alone? I got a cherry Pepsi, a popcorn with gobs of butter, and some fruit snacks. A dark theater, no one asking for anything, and it was PARADISE. A margarita would have helped, but this was pretty darn perfect.

I might be getting addicted to solo movies! It was so much fun! And since Josh hates movies, it lets me see what I want to see but then spend my friend time chatting with friends rather than sitting in a dark theater. Win win situation! The Town was good, too, in case you're wondering. I highly recommend.

life as I know it

This is going to sound crazy, but sometimes I look at my life and feel surprised. Isn't that strange?

I mean, I met this man when I was 19. He was more boy than man, if I'm telling the truth. I fell in love with him, and we did the typical dating/engagement/marriage by the time I'd turned 24. Twenty-four! And now it's been 12 years we've been together, 8 married, and I can't believe this is my life. In a few short years I will have been with him longer than I was without him, and I cannot imagine my life without him. I don't even remember what it was like without him, and that is crazy.

I wonder sometimes, how did I know? How could I have known that this boy would become this wonderful husband? This amazing partner? This loving father? I wonder how I could have known that we would get along so well, love to spend time together, have shared values, be able to make it work. Was it just luck?

Don't get me wrong, he drives me crazy sometimes. Sometimes a lot crazy. Sometimes I feel like checking into a hotel and taking a vacation from everything, but that feeling always passes and I'm back to thanking my lucky stars for this life. These beautiful children. This unbelievable friendship. This person who tells me all he wants out of life is for me to be happy. That he'll do anything to make sure we're all happy. Isn't that nuts? And I always wonder- What did I do to deserve this?

josie jellybean

I neeeed idea help, pretty pretty please!

I need to think of a theme, asap, for Josie's birthday. The problem is, this girl doesn't really play with toys or watch television. I know, I know, that sounds crazy, but I swear it is true. She will occasionally look at baby dolls in passing, but besides that, she floats all over the house throughout the day, not playing with anything in earnest.

My friend was saying this wasn't possible, but I narrated for her what a 15 minute span looks like:

Josie climbs on the coffee table, leans over the side, figures out she can do somersaults this way. (2 minutes)

Leaves for kitchen, drags chair over to counter, climbs up until mom takes chair away. (30 seconds)

Goes upstairs, disconnects noise machine. Brings noise machine down. Returns upstairs, retrieves cord for noise machine, brings it downstairs. (1.5 minutes)

Investigates what Gabe is doing, disrupts his play, gets yelled at by him, runs away with key piece of equipment, Gabe chases her down and steals it back. (2 minutes)

Goes into bathroom, turns on water, attempts to "wash hands" while really splashing water all over the bathroom. (1 minute)

Scales front hall closet cubbies, gets a hold of Mommy's purse hanging from high hook. Hides behind chairs in living room, removes all items silently. Distributes credit cards into the heating vents. (4 minutes)

Time out. (2 minutes)

Wait, did I already do that coffee table thing? Let me try it from the kitchen table too. (1 minute)

Time out. (2 minutes)

Seriously, this is what OUR WHOLE DAY is like. The thing is, I UNDERSTAND she is likely bored, but what am I supposed to do? Crafts aren't appealing, cooking neither, toys don't cut it, and television- don't even bother. Unless we are outside, she is causing mischief. It is lucky this little bugger is sooooo cute and funny or else she might be out on the curb.

But back to my original problem, what am I going to do for her birthday? I was originally going to do a monster theme- sort of cute and funny monsters. Mainly because I call her my little monster. I had lots of ideas for making primary colored monsters, and sewing little monsters for favors for the kids and having "me want cake" posters around the food table and stuff like that. Could be cute, right?

Then I thought, what about Sesame Street monsters? She does know who Elmo is, so I'm tempted to go with the regular old tried and true toddler theme. She only knows Elmo, though, no other characters, and really only in passing. It isn't like she'll watch him for longer than 2 minutes. She will call his name out when she sees a picture of him, so she does like him. And Elmo themes are really cute and easy with lots of cute games.

Maybe a cupcake theme? The birthday invites could say "our little cupcake is turning two" but where else would I go with that theme? Games? Decorations? I don't feel like I can run with it.

Lastly, her lovey is a mermaid. I could do an under the ocean theme with mermaids, but she totally won't get it and a mermaid party when she's a bigger kid could be super fun so I'd hate to waste it.

So what do you think?

awesomely awesome halloween

Behold! Some pictures!

This year was a crazy Halloween weekend for us, which was a change from our boring normal life. We ended up having 4 parties in one weekend, one Friday afternoon, one Friday night, one Saturday afternoon, and another Saturday night. Plus a visit with friends on Sunday morning and then a dinner with friends on Sunday evening before trick or treating. Isn't that absurd? I am a definite anti-over-scheduling person, and this weekend was beyond ridiculous for everyone involved. We were all exhausted by the time Sunday night rolled around. Exhausted, but happy, because it was a super fun weekend.















We all dressed up for our family party, and Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk have really expanded their family since we last saw them 6 years ago. Gabe was Buzz Lightyear, of course, and Josie (in case you can't tell) was Mr. Potato Head. Her costume was homemade, a fact of which I was inordinately proud. I initially wanted to make her costume, then with all the accidents and Josie's surgery, I finally accepted my own limitations and decided to buy her costume instead. I ordered the cutest little ladybug costume, it arrived last week and I hated it. I tried to make it work, but in the end, I made an emergency run to the fabric store on Friday afternoon and spent naptime sewing it up.




I'm shockingly thrilled with the results, and she got the most compliments of any of the kids around. As we were walking around the neighborhood on Sunday night, several women referred to her as an "adorable little tater tot". I'd have to agree.






And then we have our "angry" pumpkin that magically appeared at our house on Sunday morning. Or at least, that is what Gabe thinks. My right hand begs to differ after it took me 2 hours to carve it. We went to this fabulous pumpkin patch to purchase our pumpkins, but those stinking pumpkins are made of steel. Good lord, they were hard to carve.

Last, but not least, we had a milestone around here. Gabe carved a pumpkin! And loved it! That's my boy!


So now tell me, what did you all do for Halloween?

voting for preschoolers

Have you guys explained voting to preschoolers? I sat down with Gabe and made a good attempt, but I'm not sure the message got through.

The best I could do was that we get one day to tell our leaders who we'd like to be our leaders (i.e. the people in charge) and how we'd like them to do things. So we go down to the school and write what we want them to know on paper and turn it in (i.e. voting). Then they count everyone's votes and see what we think.

Is there a better explanation? So confusing! When we got to the school, though, he was super bummed when he realized he wasn't going to get to vote, although what the heck did he think he was voting for anyway? I told him he needed to be able to read to vote (we'll deal with the age thing later) and he cracked me up when he said, "Yeah, because I can't read the instructions now. I definitely need to be able to read the instructions."

Thoughts?

11 months to go

Gabe came downstairs to find a huge pile of Halloween decorations on the living room floor. It takes me a whole day to pull everything from the corners of the house, organize it, and then pack it all up into their orange and black containers (we have a LOT of Halloween decorations). He surveyed the pile and asked what I was doing with everything out, and I told him it was all going away because Halloween was over and wouldn't be back until next year.

"But I want it to stay!" he said sadly, "I love Halloween!"

Me too, buddy. Me too.