2 turkeys & the night kitchen

Thanksgiving Day at Grandma & Grandpa's. We had such a nice holiday & got to spend time with lots of family this weekend! I am truly so thankful for so much.

3 bakerS in The NighT KitcheN (ben, belle, aunt mary)

Well we started baking for the holiday season already. The turkey decor isn't even down yet! But, it is never too soon to make cut out sugar cookies! I had to take a picture of these 3 stooges as they created the festive masterpieces. For some reason these fun, messy bakers remind me of the story: In the night kithen by Maurice Sendak (author of where the wild things are).

I can't believe there is Ice on our windows already. My new favorite at home coffee is: dunken donuts brand. Currently, Noah is making homemade cinnamon rolls this morning. Ben is still sleeping, Mary is reading nursery rhymes to Isabelle. I recently began reading a new book: Roasting in Hell's Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay. Ben's most recent Dr. Visit was quite a success for he is doing very well (aside from the fact that we all have colds to some degree right now). Isabelle's class made stone soup at school recently. Her job was to bring the barley. She talked about stone soup for a week straight, couldnt wait...after school we picked her up and asked her what she thought of stone soup...she responded that: it was yuk but I liked the crackers!

The Little Prince

Recently I went to a used book sale. I found an old copy of The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. This is one of my favorite children's stories. What an amazing find, this book...not only do I love the musty old book smell...but I love the history of owners...I love when you open an old book and not only discover the story within, but also a little piece of who owned it at one time. In this copy of of The Little Prince there is an inscription from the gift giver and he is telling why he likes this story and is passing it on. ALso inside the book is a note from someone who owned the book, the note is about her "love" who I am assuming is her son. Also at the end of the book was an old newspaper article that I found delight in reading. This book, what a treasure for 25 cents!

So, I decided with a busy Monday coming (Isabelle School, Ben Dr. Misc Errands..) that I would try to prepare myself as much as possible for the morning, because morning around here lately...are anything but prepared. I dump my purse out in attempt to clean it out, get organized and I find...I can't believe this.... 12 pens! 12 pens! Am I insane? I was wondering where all my pens went. I ask myself am I a mental case? 12 pens? Normally, I carry 2 pens. 1 for use, 1 for back up, cuz you never know. This just shows how out of sync I have been lately. The normal me would never haul around 12 pens. Yes, I am a writing freak...but not in that way. So anyway, I am taking note (now that I have found my pens and can do so) that I need to slow down and concentrate a little bit more. I am not even going to tell you how much change I had in my purse!

Something that I have been feeling really bad about lately, is my lack of correspondence with family and friends. I feel like a total and complete antisocial neglector. <-- sorry if that is not a word or spelled incorrectly but I dont feel like looking it up. I apologize to anyone that has felt like I am not around anymore...I'm here! I'm just trying to find myself in all this mess! Seriously though, things have just been crazy and I really am trying to become better aquainted with my priorities and a somewhat schedule that is functional to be productive in all aspects of my life. Something that will really help my communication is that I have a new cell phone (living without one was quite an adjustment!). The best part of my new phone besides the fact that it is p i n k (I am trying to embrace more feminity as I have been lacking at that lately too), is that I have the best ring tone I could have ever dreamed of! The office theme song! Whoah, life is good.

These lovely Autumn days...

My friend Sally visited from afar (Minnesota) and while here, she did a photo shoot of the kids. Even though the elements (on the go children and wind) were against her, she got such wonderful shots! These are just two of her amazing photos! I love them all, so I will be posting more when I get them! :)

The last couple days have been so nice weather wise. Those perfect Autumn days in which the weather is crisp enough to breath soul into your step and warm enough to enjoy the beauty of the outdoors without heavy attire.

I just took the kids out of the bath. They smell so nice. The sun is setting. I think we are having leftover Gumbo for dinner because Noah has a meeting tonight. Noah has been cooking an awful lot lately. I tease him asking if he will ever let me cook again...maybe when he has a cold and has no taste buds. Well, he enjoys it and he by some miracle has been really helping with the clean up, so honestly, I don't mind one bit. Most things he has been making have been really good....well, except his meatloaf. It was way too salty. Oh well, they can't all be five star. So speaking of cooking, we finally saw the movie Ratatolli. Very cute little flick. Isabelle tells me the next time she goes to a restaurant she is going to ask for Ratatolli with NO matos!

The clutter of the house has been really getting to me lately. Today I spent the day attempting to do my best to change things up a bit. Clean, organize, switch furniture around. I feel better for now but as I speak the house is getting undone by the two little people whose job it is to keep me challenged.

My etsy shop has been keeping me quite busy lately. I have serveral custom orders lined up. This has been such a good thing for me but I personally need to make sure I keep a balance of all things...like the house has been in such chaos lately, that's why I took today to attempt some kind of major improvement. I also have been working on projects after the kids go to sleep and before they wake up, so I have not been sleeping as much as I should. I am not complaining at all, it has been such a good thing...but I like I said, I need to learn a good balance for family, home & business. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Speaking of, I should probably get off the computer for now! Stay Well & Enjoy these Fall days, for they are fleeting!

p.s. I just had to add this! I just picked Ben up and something rattled...so I unzipped his footy pajamas and found a little shaker toy, a little people horse and an half eaten apple!!! This kid is little a chipmunk storing things in his pajamas!

10 years

On November 1st, Noah and I celebrated 10 years of marriage. I have to say, WOW. I really can't comprehend that 10 years have gone by so quickly. A few jobs, houses, towns, dogs and kids later....here we are. Like all lives, some of the times have been hard, but all in all we have been truly blessed with our amazing family and we somehow get through the trials we face. In each other we find comfort and we find laughter. We find understanding...and we know that we are truly loved.

So, I thought I would share a few converstions/situations that I have had with Isabelle & Ben lately:

Isabelle: My friend Cake is going to be at the party. Cheryl: No, your friend's name is CaDe. No, his name is Cake!

Isabelle comes into our room in the middle of the night*** Isabelle: I can't hear the OWLS because DADDY is snoring!

This afternoon, I gave Isabelle a toy catalog that came in the mail and told her to circle the things that she liked so we could get ideas for a list for Santa Claus. Isabelle, returns later to show me the catalog and as we go through it, I notice that ALL the items in the catalog are circled.

Isabelle likes to pretend Ben is a puppy, she throws something and tells Ben to fetch. Ben goes and gets it and brings it to her and she pats him on the head and says good boy. She throws it again and he goes and fetchs again....they go on like this for awhile.

Isabelle's new obessions: getting a race car shaped bed and bringing an outside bird in the house to sleep with.

And Ben has turned into quite the escape artist...when he sees me coming with the diapers and wipes he high tails it away like you wouldnt believe...or if Noah tells him he is going to get him...then Ben goes and hides under the little kid picnic table and peers out laughing.

Ben does not like swings. Ben does not like his hair rinsed in the bath.

I'm very tired so I : Wish you well & goodnight.

Lions & Tigers & Bears Oh My!