Bathtime Banter

It's nice to know that even when engaged in fierce squirt gun battles with your brother while bathing that you can still kiss and make up when all is said and done ;) Love these two little rascals.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

This is where David and I "found" Michael this morning...

Zoo Boo

The world-renowned Great Plains Zoo here in Sioux Falls, SD sponsors an annual Halloween event called Zoo Boo. Basically, they line the zoo sidewalks with jack o'lanterns, decorate the rest of the zoo, and let all the predatory beasts out of their cages while the kids walk around in the dark. OK, so not all of what I have written here is entirely true...

The kids loved the event and were thrilled to begin their candy-getting adventures for the year. Most kids just ran from station to station to get their candy as quickly as possible. But, I am proud to say that despite his sugar-crazed excitement about the treats, my Michael still found time for the animals, occasionally shouting out a particular greeting: "Hello, Guanacos!" "Where are you, Wallaby?"

Let the Freaky Festivities Begin!

Ah, yes. Halloween week. Looking for every excuse possible for the kids to wear their costumes so that I feel that I have not completely wasted the $40 I spent on them.

The boys "designed" and Brian carved our Jack O'Lantern this year.

We also had a great time rocking out to Eric Clapton and Bruce Springsteen with some of Daddy's costume accessories (he plans to be an 80's Rocker).

The Trade-Off

For those of you who are sensitive to the potty stories that so many parents like to tell, please spare yourself and stop reading right now...

David calls me into the bathroom today to show me his gigantic poop. I'm talking alarming. After he shows off his prize poop, he asks to me leave and give him privacy while he cleans himself up. He comes out many minutes later to show off his clean butt. "Wow, David, you really did a good job wiping!" "Ya, Mom. Wanna know how I did it?" "Yes, I do." "I used the whole roll of toilet paper!" When I go in there, the stack of toilet paper in the potty is literally as tall as the seat.

I'll save all of you the gory details, but let's suffice it to say that our toilet is clean and empty and all is well ;)

That's the trade-off for you: Clean kiddie butt. But reams of toilet paper in the potty ;)

And you are not allowed to tell me how gross and inappropriate this post is because I warned you.

The Red Balloon

The other day at the library, I came across a movie that I remembered from my childhood, The Red Balloon, a mostly silent film made in the 1950s in France. Borrowed it for David and Michael, and let me say: they were entranced! Now, they go around saying "Balon, balon" in their little French accents. Here they are, surrounded by their cushions (or pushions as Michael calls them) and riveted to the screen...(Sorry, I haven't yet figured out how to correct the red-eye on my Mac!)

Maniacs on The Floor

I took the boys to an open gym at a gymastics facility. When they entered that huge open room, they thought they died and gone to heaven. The facility plays hilarious music like 'Walk Like An Egyptian" and "Time Warp" so that added to the fun...

Maeve Marie

As if it wasn't enough to be able to see out-of-state college friends, be at Liz's baby shower, and eat at CBA all in one weekend, I also got to hold Maeve Marie Levar when she was just 4 days old! What a cutie! And then to top things off, I got to see my good friend Julie just two days before she gave birth to the also adorable Ellery Austen Kavanaugh.

One Month, Two Surprises

First, we got to surprise Mamma for her 60th birthday. Now, I got to plan a surprise baby shower for Liz and Chris! Many of our college buddies were in town for Notre Dame vs Western Michigan, so people who might not have been able to join us for the shower were able to be a part of the festivities. We had great fun, and for the most part, Liz was surprised. I didn't get many pictures of the shower, but here are two anyway: The first is us trying to hide behind our menus as Liz entered the building, and the second of Liz first walking into the room. I promise to make up for this lack of pictures at Christmastime when I take a million pictures of my new godson!

A Visit from "The Chicago Guarracis"

Thanks Mamma, Pappa, Aunt Laura, Anthony, and Jeremy for making the LOOONG trip out to Sioux Falls to visit with us for Columbus Day weekend!!!

We had beautiful weather, and great fun together. We got to show them Falls Park and downtown Sioux Falls (with the highlight being the old-fashioned candy store - I think Mamma and Pappa might have bought more than the kids!). We also had some fun times zipping around Sertoma Park on both foot and on Plasmamobile. Last but not least, we had yet another birthday party for the boys (I think the grand total was 5 parties, sweet Lord!!!!!)

An Apple A Day

How about a million apples in one day??? Mamo and Papo joined us at the Apple Orchard on 9/30. What fun we had - visiting farm animals in the petting zoo, hiding in the hay bales, taking a wagon ride, picking apples, and listening to a brief educational apple demo. At David's request, we ended up buying this really cool apple peeler and slicer. Now if we could only get it work as well as the woman who demonstrates it at the orchard...

Lucky Ladybugs

David's preschool class took a field trip to Sioux Falls' Outdoor Campus where they learned about ladybugs. Michael and I tagged along and had as much fun as the preschool kids. We saw a puppet show, made ladybug snacks, played a few ladybug games, and learned soo much! One thing we learned about ladybugs is that they eat aphids and birds eat them. When they see a bird coming, they lay on their back for camouflage. Here's David pretending that he is the ladybug and that he has spotted a bird overhead...

Happy Birthday David!

My biggest boy - 4 years old!! He had a great day with his favorite foods to eat, presents, and chocolate chip muffins. He also made good on a promise that he made me almost a year ago: That he would go poo poo on the potty when he turned 4. (Prior to this day, he insisted on going in his diaper. When I would ask him about it, he would quickly get irritated and say that he would poop on the potty when he was 80 years old. When I explained to him 1) that he would actually probably be BACK in diapers by then and 2) that they don't make diapers for 4 year olds, he agreed that he would poop in the potty on his 4th birthday and not a day sooner.) Well, he did it. I have pictures, but I will spare you the details ;)

All poop talk aside, we are very proud of the young man that David is becoming. He is a kind and loving brother, a sweet son, an eager learner, and a funny and fun kid to be around. Some of his latest "tricks": He is reading and doing simple addition and subtraction, he can play Twinkle Twinkle and a new song called Lightly Row on his violin, he gets dressed and brushes his teeth all by himself, he is developing his skills as a basketball player, a golfer, a swimmer, a dancing machine, an expert bug-cather, and a Wii player.

He is pictured here with his two favorite toys from the day: His bug catcher and his Plasmamobile.

Happy Birthday, David Joseph! We love you like crazy.

A Future Nerd

With Brian and I as his parents, David is destined to be what we call "a HUGE nerd." In late September, David proved to me that he would not be one of those rare kids that escapes becoming like his parents. David was ecstatic that first day that his preschool teacher sent him home with "homework." Homework is a box or bag of activities (books, puzzles, games, etc) that center around a particular theme. This first activity box focused on lacing. He was so proud of his tasks, and especially loved writing with the dry erase marker. He has since brought home boxes on the family theme and currently is working on one with the space theme. My little nerd!

We'll Open Up A Restaurant in Santa Fe...

To celebrate our 10th year of wedded bliss, Brian and I decided to move our petty arguments, recycled fights, and antagonistic banter "Out West," to New Mexico. Mamo and Papo stayed with the kids while we vacationed.

Something we never knew we would miss about Chicago was Midway Airport. If we lived in Chicago, we would have jumped on a direct Southwest flight from Midway to Albuquerque for less than $300 round trip with lots of choices for arrival and departure times. And less than 5 hours after we left our home, we would have been starting our vacation. But when you live in Sioux Falls, SD, things are a bit different. First, you confirm that the flights from Sioux Falls to Albuquerque are outrageously priced. Then you decide to fly out of Omaha, NE, a drive that should be about 2 hours from Sioux Falls, but that ends up being more like 3 hours because of the miles of highway that are reduced to one lane due to construction. Then you fly to some not-quite-on-the-way city like Houston or Denver. You change planes. Then you get to Albuquerque. Then you drive (at 80 miles an hour because that's the speed limit round them parts) to Santa Fe. And so finally, about an hour after you would have got to Santa Fe had you DRIVEN from Sioux Falls, you arrive at your destination. And even though it sounds like I am complaining, I am not. Well, maybe I am. But I will say that the silver lining was that, without kids, I find that I actually enjoy plane rides. A chance for a nap, or to read my book - these are things that I rarely allow myself to do on the ground.

We stayed at the Hotel St Francis, a beautiful and simply decorated historic hotel. We arose early in the morning on Saturday to catch the Mass Ascension of the first day of the annual International Balloon Fiesta. Never heard of it? Well neither had we until my mom's cousin, a NM native, enlightened us. (Shout out to Annie, who gave us so many helpful tips. And while I'm at it, shout out to Andy, Darren and John, and David, all of whom were super helpful as well! Thanks for sharing your Santa Fe expertise and helping us make our trip so memorable.) Balloon Fiesta involves a cazillion balloon related events, but what we got to see was the launch of hundreds of hot air balloons into the clear blue morning sky over Albuquerque. It was spectacular and worth the 5:10 am wake-up call. Michael Patrick worked for months to prepare me for that moment ;) Even the standard balloons are beautiful, with all of their beautiful bold colors and designs. But imagine a balloon shaped like a Gremlin, or a Pepsi bottle, or a Jack-in-the-box, or a carousel, or a fish, or a stork delivering a baby. All up in the sky at the same time. With a couple hundred other balloons up there with them. Sooooo cool. Pictures can't do it justice, but I have posted some anyway.

After enjoying the spectacle in the sky, we headed off for "second breakfast" at the Chocolate Maven, this spectacular bakery located in a warehouse, just behind the vacuum repair shop, right where most great bakeries can be found. Brian got a humongous chocolate croissant, and me, I got a humongous green chile-cheddar croissant. And we couldn't have been happier. Delish. And we took a brownie for the road. Where were we headed? To the next food establishment: Bobcat Bite. You may have read about it. Some experts say that their Green Chile Cheeseburger is the best burger in America. Problem is, size of the burger is in indirect proportion to the size of the joint. Meaning to say that the place only seats about 20 people. Translation: long lines for big delicious burgers. So we got there just after 10:30 am to be the first ones in when the doors opened at 11 am. The burgers were mighty good. And so big that I truly felt like I would puke if I finished it. You might assume that I probably didn't finish it. But you would be wrong. Thankfully, I, too, was wrong and did not puke ;)

From Bobcat Bite, we headed up to the 10,000 foot Santa Fe Ski Hill to take in the fall foliage. These aspen-covered mountains were like nothing my eyes have ever seen. So breathtaking, so brilliant. Again, pictures can't do this experience justice, but that didn't stop us from taking about 80 of them. Thank God for digital cameras ;)

Sante Fe is home to the oldest Catholic Church in the country, St Francis. We attended mass there on Sunday with quite a diverse mix of people with respect to age, ethnicity, place of residence, and sexual orientation (I guess I don't know this last part for sure but even those of us with less-than-expert gaydar picked up on some of these folks ;). More interesting than St Francis was the Loretto Chapel. Legend has it that when the chapel was built, the design was poor, and at the last minute, the builders realized that they had no way to connect the choir loft with the main body of the chapel. The space was too small for a traditional staircase, so the nuns decided to pray to St Joseph for help. A few months later, a stranger shows up at the door with nothing but a hammer, a saw, and a carpenter's square. He offers to build a spiral staircase for the chapel and proceeds to work on it, by himself, for the next six months. When he finished, he left without payment or a goodbye and was never heard from again. The staircase is beautiful at the aesthetic level, but miraculous in its architecture. It does 2 full 360 degree turns yet has no nails, and no center or side support. Modern experts say that a staircase like this should never have been possible, and even if it were possible to build that it should break the moment that a person set foot upon it. And yet, this staircase was used daily for almost 100 years. Architects and engineers say that it is only the perfection of its construction that allows it to defy the laws of physics. Some people say that it was St Joseph himself who built the staircase. After the lone carpenter left, the head nun went to the lumberyard to attempt to at least pay for the wood used. The lumbermen claimed not to have given wood to any such carpenter. In fact, experts say that they don't know where the wood in the staircase is from. All they know is that it is NOT from New Mexico.

Also on Sunday, we visited Canyon Road, an area that boasts dozens of fine art galleries. Too bd we don't yet have a house in which to put any art ;) Brian moved us efficiently through the galleries and tired us out so that we could chow down (yet again) on dinner.

When all was said and done, we had a fabulous time in Santa Fe - great history, great art, great weather, great food, and the best company that a girl could ask for.

Thanks Mamo and Papo for babysitting and making this trip possible!

Between Computers

So, let's just say that I am "between computers." My old one, the one that made me want throw it to the floor and pound on it repeatedly with a baseball bat, is pretty much on the fritz. Problem is, I still have some of my videos and pictures on it. My new computer, a Mac, is up and running, but I'm still learning the ropes. Point is, I think I am going to need to skip some parts of late September and jump right to October, which is when I started using the new computer. Hopefully, I will be able to "flashback" sometime and include late September...Until then, here I go with my Mac ;)