This is what I was greeted with when I picked up Matthew and Dominic at daycare today:


Let me guess? You are asking the same question I did when I finally realized that someone actually meant to color on his face. For a few moments I swore Dominic allowed one of his friends to color all over him.....nope! Ms. Pat proudly stated that Dominic couldn't decide what he wanted, so she painted a pirate Spiderman on his face. I suppose if you put your creative thinking hat on you can see both characters represented? I scrubbed as best as I could in the bath tonight, but Dominic still has the faint mustache and beard as the black did not wash completely off. Oh well, guess he will enjoy another adventure tomorrow.

My favorite place to shop while in Santa Barbara is Gymboree, since there isn't one anywhere close to me. I usually tear through my magazines before I make a trip and find a coupon good for 20% off. Their clearance racks always have a good selection, and their clothing quality is second to none. Here's what I splurged on today in all three sizes for the boys. I guess we will get some VERY cute pics on Christmas morning! Thanks to Matty Moose, I have a new favorite animal!!

An Early Christmas Surprise for the Boys

Every year I visit the Fisher Price website looking for the latest holiday play set, and every year they are sold out before I have a chance to buy one. This year, I beat the odds and logged in rather early. I found the new nativity set with the wise men and Bethlehem play pieces for a package price....and in stock!! The boys will be excited to play with these during the holiday season each year. Truth be told, Mommy is looking forward to playing with this set too!

A Day at the Zoo

Nana "Mickey" visited with me and the boys on Sunday as she returned from her annual trip to Pismo Beach with her best friend Kathy. The boys were so excited to see her! We had lunch at the Cowgirl cafe before heading over to the Charles Paddock Zoo in Atascadero. The cafe has the best food and nana enjoyed her usual "breakfast for lunch." The zoo was all decorated for Halloween which was an added treat. Joshua and Dominic especially enjoyed the Meerkat exhibit, and Matthew just enjoyed being outside.

Joshua and Dominic peer in to look at the Meerkats...

...and then join them.

Mommy and her favorite little guy!

Mommy poses for a photo opp with the boys.

The boys pose outside of the owl exhibit.

Mr. Photogenic

Joshua and Nana turn into turtles

Joshua and Dominic unearthed a dead body!! Clearly the zoo was decorated for Halloween

Camping Out

On Sunday, Joshua and Dominic expressed interest in sleeping in a tent. I have no clue where this desire came from, but they insisted that we get a small tent for them to camp out in. We went to Target with Nana and found a 2-3 man tent for a reasonable price. Little did I know that once we popped up the tent, it would take up a giant spot in our family room. After moving the furniture around, we found the perfect spot in front of the fireplace, and the boys setup their sleeping bags and lanterns for a night of fun. Joshua spent the entire night "under the stars" while Dominic quickly found his way back into Mommy's bed. All is well, and the tent is now packed up and back in the garage. Daddy has promised to camp out in the front yard once it warms back up next year. How fun!!

An Early Christmas Gift

I finally did it! I've been complaining about my dinosaur of a desktop computer for years. Besides the fact that the darn thing won't read my camera anymore and is outdated and won't allow me to install new software, it now has deleted the anti-virus software and has at least 100 spyware on it. I give up!! So.....I called Dell on Friday and ordered a new laptop for me! I'm so excited!

Six Quirks

Directions: Tell six unspectacular quirks about yourself. I really hate these kinds of things, but what the heck…

1. I am a perfectionist, which drives my husband nuts. He can go through and clean the house while I’m at work and then I will re-clean the next day. It drives him nuts!! For some reason it just doesn’t look right unless I do it.

2. I sing to myself when I’m driving in the car. Yes, I know everyone does, but I get in the groove and put rhythm to the words. I suppose other drivers think I’m nuts.

3. I love the way clean sheets feel. Each week when I change the sheets I can't wait to get in bed that night so I can rub my feet all over them. (Thanks Pattie – we are so much alike!!). I will add to this, however, and say that I hate it when my husband climbs under the sheets the first night I after I change them in his dirty, stinky underwear and t-shirt.

4. I take two showers a day, every day. I have no clue why. I like to go to bed clean and then need another pick me up to get my day started.

5. Ear wax grosses me out! My kids have clean ears, as do I, but I wish I could carry Q-tips around and hand them to strangers. YUCK!!

6. In the winter, I love lighting candles. The first thing I do in the morning is walk around my house and light them all, even if I have to blow them out 30 minutes later.

I tag anyone who wants to play along, so as not to put undue pressure on you.

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took the boys for our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. For those of you who do not know, the pumpkin patch is owned by the Harris family. They are the couple who provided the cool venue for Joshua and Dominic's birthday party this year. As usual, the pumpkin patch was all decked out and hundreds of pumpkins were layed out ready to be picked. The boys had a blast visiting all the displays on the grounds, and especially enjoyed the corn maze. Jim and I assumed it would be an easy navigation through since the first half only had one path to take but of course we were wrong. About half way through the maze, the fun began. After about 20 mins, we had had enough. With some assistance from the gentleman in the basket/crane above the maze, we took two more turns and we were out. Matthew certainly enjoyed his first trip and found the hay rather appetizing. We are looking forward to a fun Halloween!

A nose picker, a thumb sucker, and a big cheesy grin...that's my boys!!

BOO!! Joshua is on the left, Matthew is in the middle, and Dominic is down low.


Mommy's three favorite pumpkins!! Dom, Matty, and Josh

Lord know's I wasn't going to get a good picture with the big pumpkin, but it was worth a try.

Matthew was fascinated with the hay. He knawed on this one piece for several minutes.

Need I say anything?

Dominic and Joshua navigate through the corn maze with daddy and mommy (and Matthew) close behind.

Jim show's Dominic where corn comes from.

...and Matthew attempts to harvest his own!

Kicking it up at the Hoe Down!

I LOVE having Thursdays off just because I have time to spend with the boys. I volunteered in Joshua's classroom two times yesterday, and Joshua opted to go home with me after school than ride the bus to YMCA (Wow! He chose mom over his friends - hopefully that's a trend that continues for a while). We decided to visit the Paso Robles Childrens Museum to inquire about an annual membership - $125 for a family membership; what a steal....so we signed up. We then picked up Dominic and Matthew and ventured back over to play at the museum. Matthew and I enjoyed watching Joshua and Dominic play for about an hour and a half.

Last night was the Bauer School PTO hoe down. This is an annual fundraiser held on the grounds of Joshua's school. The boys had a blast!! After paying $3 for a burnt up hamburger, I enjoyed watching Joshua and Dominic play with their friends, rope a cow, jump in a potato sack race, and make bookmarks. Matthew enjoyed looking cute as ever in his new Moose jammies.

Little Mister Manners

Dominic and I ventured to Walmart yesterday for a lesson in manners (okay, so we also picked up a few things). I am trying to teach my boys to be polite and what better place to try out their skills.

As we walked down the aisles, Dominic would politely say "excuse me" as we squeezed by other patrons. I had to laugh, however, when I found him saying it to EVERY SINGLE person he saw in the store! Good job Dominic on being such a polite little boy!

The Hat

This hat is one of the only "physical" things I have to remember my grandfather. Yesterday, Joshua pulled it out of his closet and insisted on wearing it to the fire station. He is so proud to have this hat and tells everyone it is papa's hat. The odd thing is that the hat fits him perfectly! I put the hat on last night and remarked that it fit me perfect as well. I'm convinced that this is a sign that grandpa comes with us anytime we wear the hat since it fits us all so well. I can still see grandpa working in his yard with this old sweat stained hat in my memories.....aren't we lucky that we still have bits and pieces of him to hold onto?

Our Nightly Routine

The boys and I are committed to a nightly routine, which includes a bath tub full of boys. I thought I would share a few pics from our Monday night tub adventure:

Joshua's Day

Yesterday was Joshua's day! On Thursday's, I volunteer in his classroom which is a treat for him. I very much enjoy helping the 1st graders with their school work, and especially enjoy watching how independent Josh is in his classroom. He works so well on his own and is very quiet (unlike he is at home with his brothers). As with every Thursday, Josh was sad to see me leave. Since this week is parent teacher conference week, he gets out at 12:30 every day. After running my errands, I decided to pick him up early from YMCA and let him help decorate for Halloween. He was SOOO excited!

Joshua climbed the ladder into the attic with me and helped me rummage through all of our holiday decorations and then helped me pull everything out of the boxes. He set up the inflatable spider all by himself and positioned it perfectly on the front porch. Words cannot express how proud I am of him nor how sad I am that he is growing up all too quick!

I will post photos of our decorations once I get a chance.