Halloween Eve

Our three pumpkins for this year. Alex assigned ownership as follows (from l-r) his, Shadow's, and the Baby's.

I LOVE Halloween decorations, especially tea light holders. Here are some of my favorites. The lantern actually casts shadows of bats on the ceiling. Very spooky! The little ghost was $1... and it's little face just glows when the candle is lit. I fell in love with the spooky tree when I was a poor grad student. I saved up for it and splurged, because I simply had to have it.

And I love this trio, because they are so retro looking. The funny story about this set is my mom bought it for me... and I had purchased the exact same set from Hallmark! So I took the duplicate set to work and it spruces up my cubicle for Halloween!

Our neighborhood trick-or-treat is tomorrow night. I hope we get some trick or treaters... we live awfully close to a busy street and a lot of parents won't let their kids come down to our block because of this. Some day, I hope I live on a street where there are lots of trick-or-treaters! I love passing out candy and seeing all the costumes! I'll post pictures of Alex in costume this weekend!

Back to the Grind

After a day spent trying to convince my 3 year old that you need to rest when you are sick, I'm back to work. He seemed to bounce back pretty well... after resting on the couch for most of the afternoon, he nibbled on some lunch (though not the chicken soup, much to my dismay), took at 2 hour nap, then rested some more while watching some of his favorite Disney Channel shows.

By evening he was ready to play, though I encouraged him to take it easy. We did a couple of puzzles and read a few books before bed. (Sidenote - the kid is becoming a whiz at puzzles! He put together two different 24 piece puzzles in less than 10 minutes. I guess we just need to keep looking for more challenging puzzles!)

It was great getting to spend the day with him and just be a mom. It's the job I love the most!

It seemed like such a good idea at the time...

I went back to my hometown of Galesburg, Illinois this weekend to visit my parents. I haven't been back since March and my parents haven't been able to get up to Wisconsin as much as they normally do for a number of reasons. So Craig had to go to San Francisco for the Packers game, and I decided Alex, Shadow and I would go to the 'Burg as we so affectionately call it.

We didn't leave as early last Friday as I wanted, but it was smooth sailing all the way. Alex talked to me almost the whole way, narrating the stretches of construction with comments on the various types of equipment. He eventually fell asleep. The visit was great. He spent some good quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. The only exception was a meltdown toward the end of church Saturday night. With all due respect, the priest seemed to be talking as slow as humanly possible.

Then Sunday rolls around and it's time to figure out when we're going to leave. It was particularly hot and sunny on Sunday. And I was traveling with a dog. And a three year old. Neither of which you should leave in a hot car. So I figure, skip the nap for the three year old, stay for dinner, then the three year old will sleep all the way home, right? The dog doesn't get left in a hot car while I try to convince Alex to eat all of his McNuggets and Apple Dippers, then he gets to play with the toy. It was a perfect plan, right?

No. Alex fell asleep in the middle of the family room floor between 430 and 5pm. And wouldn't wake up. He was so tired, when I tried to wake him, he said "I want to stay upstairs in bed."
I said, "But you're sleeping on the floor." His screaming/crying response, "Why did you put me on the floor? I want to sleep upstairs in a bed." I proceed to wolf down dinner (hamburgers on the grill, potato salad, and creamed cucumbers... I get so spoiled when I go home. YUM!) and finish packing up. Meanwhile the Sleeping Monster still won't wake up. I laid him down on the bed in our room, and started packing up.

Meanwhile, the dog is freaking out because she sees me packing and she's afraid she'll be left behind. This is normal for her. When we travel with her, we have to put her in the car before we start loading up, otherwise it's full-on hound dog howling (she's a lab/hound mix), scratching at the door, whining, and even occassionally head-butting the door. She started this at my parents house WHILE I WAS STILL PACKING. -Sigh- I mean don't get me wrong, it's nice to be worshipped, but I wanted to slip the dog a sleeping pill. (No, I would never REALLY do that, but it was a tempting thought). I put her in the car and then my dad started helping me load stuff up.

Alex finally woke up when I mentioned that we would stop at McDonalds again for dinner. We got on the road at about 6:45PM for our 4 hour trip home. BLECH. Then as I hit the highway for home, I realize there are no McDonald's right off the interstate heading north. So I had to detour into East Moline and wrack my brain trying to remember where things were (I lived there for nearly a year, I still remember it a little bit). We found a McDs, Alex ate and got his Star Wars Happy Meal Toy, and we got back on the road. At least Alex's narration on the way home was entertaining. More talk of construction equipment. We saw a hot air balloon, which was very cool. Then the moon started coming up over the horizon. It was a huge, full moon and very low in the sky. "Mom! The moon is pink!" Moments later, "Mom! The moon is orange!" Followed by, "The moon is smiling at me. That's cool." He chattered on for about another 45 minutes, then it was silence all the way to Wisconsin. We got home about 11:30PM.

I was so afraid Alex would wake up and not go back to sleep, so I gently lifted him from his car seat and snuggled him onto my shoulder. As we walked in the house he picked up his little head and said "I want to sleep in the dining room tonight. I think we have time for just one book."
I set him down gently, fully clothed in bed. He slept until 7AM Monday morning. I think the trip wore him out!

Now it's Tuesday and I still haven't unpacked, I need to do laundry, and I need to restock the shelves in the fridge. But at least I have some funny Alex stories to keep me going!

Strawberries and Flowers

Let me tell you a story about a little tiny strawberry plant. I bought this strawberry plant two summers ago... the summer that Alex turned 1. I planted this strawberry plant and nothing happened. Nothing except that it spread and took over half of my garden. I was diappointed, but what can you do? It's a plant. Last summer, tons of flowers, two strawberries that were eaten by bugs and/or critters. I was ready to give up on this little plant that took over the garden. We

had planned to rip up the plant this spring, but I told Craig to hold off. This summer?

My first strawberry harvest! I'm going to attempt to make some shortcakes from scratch and we'll feast on strawberry shortcake. If the shortcakes turn out, I'll post pictures and a recipe. I can't wait to try them!

Also, here's a gratiutous flower shot of my hot pink geraniums. I love my flowers!

My Home - Wauwatosa

The email about this month's NaBloPoMo theme arrived yesterday and I have decided to give it another go-round. The theme is home... and there are just too many possibilities on this for me.
So I'm going to start with my physical home... my house. I peppered the blog with pictures of my snow covered home this winter:

I figured I ought to show what my house looks like minus the white death, if only for perspective. (I apologize for the quality of the picture. Too many shadows. The professional photographer/husband would be aghast.)

I spent the early part of the afternoon planting flowers and sprucing the joint up with Craig and Alex in tow. You can't see them, but the geraniums in my flower boxes are fuschia, and the begonias at the base of the lamppost are a softer pink. That's what happens when you live with boys. You want girl colors whenever possible. We replaced a few hostas that bit it last year, thanks to a rampant slug infestation. (We ended up drowning the little suckers in some cleverly hidden cups filled with beer.) Still hoping to make some additions to the terraced part of our back yard, but we're off to a great start!

Back home.. and tired

We're back home after a great visit with Craig's family. Our sister-in-law Sarah's babyshower was a huge success. Alex got a lot of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Hofer, Aunt Sarah and Uncle Brian. He also got to visit his great-grandparents and Craig's Aunt Sharon. Alex got to sit in fire engines, sweep Grandpa's garage, and even pet a horse.
Craig and I got to enjoy some Happy Joe's taco pizza and Whitey's ice cream. Man, it's good to get back home every now and then.
The change to daylight saving time has thrown all of us off, though. We're all exhausted!