Fall Frolic

William

Claudia

The kiddos

"William, I'm having so much fun I just wet my pants.."

Sophie and Brian join the kids

Dogs Only

William is really into letters, letter sounds and spelling words.


Today I found "dog" by Sophie's dishes.


I'm so glad he took the time to label the dishes.


I certainly wouldn't want anyone else in the family mistakenly eating off the floor......

Recycling Day

Today is Thursday. Recycling day. When you have two youngsters, days of the week are labeled with significant happenings.

Monday = garbage day
Tuesday = library day
Wednesday = is the weekend here yet day
Thursday = recycling day
Friday = the day before Daddy stays home day
Saturday = Daddy's not working day
Sunday = Church day (monthly, if we're lucky...again, the two youngsters....)

Recycling day. I used to fear this day. Let me tell you why. We used to have two open top recycling bins that Brian would put on the curb Wednesday night. OPEN-TOP. Do you know what this means? It means that my neighbors know what is going on in my house.

Since we live downtown, everybody walks. Plus we're on a corner lot which means even more foot traffic This means my neighbors, at a glance, know what I buy. They know that I sometimes use canned vegetables, they know that our meals are not always made from scratch (aka Kraft Mac and Cheese). I'm sure you get my point.

Well...Valpo got themselves some grant money to buy big ass recycling containers with LIDS! Awesome. However, the number of containers was limited. We didn't get one with our first request. We had to wait several months before ours was delivered. It was totally worth the wait.

Now, I don't mind that Brian (Fanatic Environmental Man) picks my errors (down to the point of Truvia wrappers) out of the trash can and puts them into the recycling bin.

Thank you Valpo!!!

Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Last Saturday we made a trip out to Coulter's for our Halloween pumpkins.....

The Christmas pumpkin because "Halloween is too scary".

Rattle my bones!

Check out the gourds!!!

William's pick of the crop

Look! I grew!

God, Help Me!

Last night after a full day at the pumpkin patch we went to 5:30 mass. Brian had to do both readings because reader #1 didn't show up. Since the kids were tired and a little cranky and I knew Brian would be gone for the first chunk of the mass, I took the kids into the "Crying Room" instead of the church. Two other families had the same idea.

When the kids asked where Dad was, I told them he would be back after he read the "stories". They looked at each other. They looked at me. Then they started.

Claudia immediately began to display her love of God by growling at a little girl every time the girl got too close to her. "This is going to be a long mass," I thought...........

Claudia then proceeded to remove her underwear. Since she was wearing a dress, this wasn't quite the feat it might otherwise be, but this was no place for me to congratulate her on her abilities to undress. I quietly told her to leave the underwear on. "We don't take off our clothes in church" I whispered through clenched teeth. She smiled and once again began to strip. I grabbed her and hiked her princess panties back up.

The spiritual struggle for supremacy was just beginning..........

"I have something MUSHY in my underwear!!!" she shouted. The two other families turned their heads away from us and acted as if they didn't hear her. They were probably relieved it wasn't their children with mushy undies....

I carted both kids back to the bathroom (conveniently located, thank God, at the back of the room).

Nothing in the undies! Claudia nonchalantly gave me the, "duh, I knew that" look.......aaggghhhh. She did proceed to go potty, although I was in no mood to dole out any praise.

We went back to the crying room and Brian entered a few minutes later. Relief.........

During an unusually quiet moment William turned to Brian and asked, "Why does Mom have big boobs?"

Brian closed his eyes and fervently began to pray......for what, I'm not sure, but anything other than what was taking place would have been fine with me.

Top 10 Things I Never Thought I Would Say

Now that I am a parent, there are things that come out of my mouth that just make me shake my head. The "I can't believe I'm saying this...." comments. Here are some of my favorites....

10. Stop holding your wiener.

Boys never let go of this thing. As if it might disappear......

9. You can eat it as long as it's not furry!!

The 5 second rule applies here.

8. Don't eat that. It'll come out your butt.

Coined by Gayle and reserved for the "indigestibles"

7. Stop peeing in the bushes!!!

William's on the verge of killing our bushes.

6. Who ate the poopy diaper!?!

It makes you wonder if dogs have taste buds.

5. Princesses don't pee in their pants.

Desperately trying to get Claudia to follow their lead.

4. Yes, the dog does poop out that hole.

Enough said.

3. Take that toothbrush out of your crotch!

Don't let a toddler brush their teeth naked.

2. Stop licking your brother.

Why? I ask. Why?

1. Who pooped on the floor?

Cat, dog, kids....? It all looks the same after a while.

If you have any good ones, let me know!

Claudia's 3rd Birthday Party

Dear Claudia,

You had your 3rd birthday party on September 13th. You had a Disney Princess party. You love Princesses! We had a lot of people at your party. Everyone had a great time! Mommy made a slide show for you.......

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Fremd's 20th Reunion

Amy, Brenda and me- Let the games begin!

(I did use the software to remove the double chins and "extra fluff". Didn't work!)

Fremd's 20th reunion was this past Saturday. It was held at Emmett's Ale House in downtown Palatine. It was so much fun to see the faces of friends that I have not seen in 20 years! I only wish I had taken more pictures!

My evening started out at the Hyatt Regency Woodfield. Brenda, Amy and I all stayed at the hotel. We left the Hyatt and headed to downtown Palatine (a place I did not recognize at all). Looks like the old Palatine has been torn down and all kinds of new housing such as condos, row houses and retail is now in it's place. It looked really nice. Different, but nice. Very urban....

Me, Susie and Mike

(Would you believe we used to play "spin the bottle" with this guy?)

Jenny and Me

It was a blast seeing old friends! Most have not changed a bit. Seeing all these people, made me regret not staying in touch with them. It's amazing how fast time has passed! At the 10 year reunion, most people did not have kids. At this reunion, pictures were flying, as well as the tequila!

Me, Lisa and Brenda

Jodi and Me

Chris R. and Merrill W.
(This picture is for my buddy out west!)

The evening ended at 1:00am. After the festivities, Brian, Brenda, Dawn and I went to Steak and Shake for a bite to eat. We didn't make it to bed until 3:30am! It was a great time and I can't wait for the next reunion!

Could This Be T-Ball?!?

Well, the Stage Family has had it's first experience with organized (cough.... cough.....) sports. William joined a intro to t-ball class at the YMCA.

It's been a laugh and a half to watch preschoolers play ball.


Imagine this scenario:

Kids enter gym and stare at each other.

Coach attempts to round them up and show them how to stretch.

Coach divides the kids into 2 teams- Cubs and White Sox. Many kids want to switch teams because they are not fans of the team they were told to be on. Coach ignores them and looks at the clock.

Coaches place the kids in their designated areas.

First base kid spins in circles with mitt on his head.

Second base, William, jumps up and down while facing backwards.

Third base begins to search for his johnson.

Outfielder is on his stomach licking the floor clean. His parents must be proud.

Coach looks at clock and shakes his head.

Cub's player hits ball off tee and runs for the ball instead of running to first base. He is taken down by William and 3 other White Sox players. Who knew t-ball was a contact sport?

Third base found his johnson.

Outfielder just turned into Kung Fu Panda. He's trying to chop up William. William kicks him. Coach intervenes and Kung Fu stops. Coach turns to look at the clock begins to rub his temples. Kung Fu is back in action.......

Another hit. The runner makes it to first base without any injuries. She then begins to do the Charelston on the base. Maybe she thought it was dance class.

Third base really likes his johnson. He is totally playing with his own bat and balls!

Kung Fu Panda slightly wets himself. He doesn't appear to notice.

Coach looks at clock.

William and another player have assumed the Sumo position. They are facing each other, ready to take the other down........

This goes on for an hour! Way tooo long for little preschoolers. However, it did provide us with a lot of laughs! Can't wait for soccer season to start!!!!!!!!!!!!