Christmas List

It's official. Luke has made his list for Santa. We gave him a toy catalog and let him mark the things he wants. As you can see, he's quite optomistic.


Apparently he didn't get the memo on the budget. How many motorized cars does one kid need?


He's also interested in a couple of kitchens.


Let's not forget that we need two bounce houses, a trampoline and a pink playhouse. The playhouse was promptly scratched off when I pointed out that it was pink. He was so focused on checking things off, I don't even think he noticed.

Halloween Fun

A little glimpse of our halloween fun.




The boys loved climbing this spider web.



We waited 30 minutes in line for Luke to have a turn on this slide. I don't know what we were thinking.



Their favorite part of the night...batteling.





A pre trick or treat cookout with friends.







Ready to go.



And they're off. They had a great time. Max really got into it this year. Now if I could just stay away from all that candy.

Fall Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.

A trip to the pumpkin patch.







Max exploring his individuality.





Luke and Merk's T-Ball team.

All Our Redneck Glory

Growing up in the South, there's a soft spot in my heart for for rednecks. Merk, however, has never fully embraced my less than cultured upbringing ... until last night.

Here's what happened:

Late in the afternoon I got out Luke's old clothes to see what I could pass down to Max. One box had Luke's favorite pajamas, so he spent the better part of an hour trying them on. It didn't matter to him that they were almost uncomfortably small, he was just happy to be in his old Spidy pj's again.

When Merk came home the kids were still in the old pajamas. So imagine my surprise when he said he was taking them to see an old Jeff Gordon car, pajamas and all.

So yes, at 7 pm on a weeknight, my husband took our kids out in public in their pajamas to see a NASCAR. If that's not a redneck move, then I just don't know what is.

Here are the pictures to commemorate the event.

I knew I was behind on my posting when I had to look up my Blogger password, but I didn't realize it had been six weeks until I logged on and saw that kindergarten picture. Wow. A lot has happened since then. Let me try and catch you up.

It all starts with Kindergarten. I can honestly say I wasn't prepared. For starters, coming off a lazy summer did not prepare me for getting a sleepy five year old up at 6:30 every day. And getting that same five year old into the bed and asleep an hour earlier, well that has been almost impossible.

But the real trouble has been with kindergarten itself. To say it wasn't what we expected is an understatement. I'm not going to go into the details, but let's just say it put me into a state of shock that lasted almost a month.

To add to that, Luke took a long time to make the adjustment. He cried every day for four weeks. Every morning he would beg not to go and usually made up an illness to make his point. In fact, this became so common that one morning when he said his stomach hurt, I didn't believe him. It was only when he started throwing up that I realized that he really was sick.

Where we live, you can't transfer a child until December so we've been forced to wait it out. I'm glad we did because he turned a corner a couple of weeks ago and is doing better now. Honestly, we were very close to becoming a homeschool family. Can you imagine that? It's amazing the things you will do when pushed against the wall.

So as soon as we passed all that, I turned 39. When did that happen? I still think I'm somewhere around 32 and am genuinely shocked when I see a new laugh line or wrinkle.

Adding to all this, there have been men in my house for the past month. The shower remodel that was supposed to take two weeks ended up taking three months and required a parade of big mac loving plumbers, tile guys, painters and a varied assortment of odd and end guys to get the job done. I stopped even trying to learn their names and just called them all Johnny since over half of them were named that.

So I've been preoccupied and getting through the day seemed like a big enough accomplishment. But realized that I would lose a lot if I stopped. How else will I remember that Max fell on the sidewalk and had a huge scab on his nose for his school pictures. Well, there may be proof of that one, but not how Luke almost broke his arm trying to kick a ball with both feet at the same time. Or how Luke got three Yankees out in one inning of his t-ball game and how Max wore snow boots to school on a 95 degree day.

So I'm back. And to welcome myself back, here are a few photos from the past six weeks.


I can't believe how big he's getting.


First day of preschool.


Look Ma, no tee.


One awesome birthday cake.


Snow boots in September.

Big Day

We made it through Luke's first day of Kindergarten. I've said it a hundred times today, but I can't believe we reached this day so quickly. He's growing up so fast and I miss him already.



Slow down Luke. I know you are already so big and strong, but you are still the infant I held in my arms just yesterday. I know you are excited to learn, but I'm not done teaching you yet. You are racing towards the day when your friends will be more interesting to you, but I'm not willing to stop cuddling you.

There's so much about you that is ready to bloom. I can't wait to see the person you will become. But you have to forgive me, because as proud as I am of who you are growing into, it's the little boy with the blue eyes that I will hold in my heart forever.

Oval vs. Circle

Luke, Max and I were lying in bed this morning, snuggling and enjoying one of our last lazy mornings together before kindergarten.

For no reason, Luke starts studying the space between the bed and my nightstand. Then he proclaims to Max, "Hey Max, your head can fit in here because your head's an oval. Mine won't because it's a circle."

What? Where did that come from and why is he thinking of fitting anyone's head into such a small space?