I'm Grateful For

21 yeast
22 I'm thankful that my mom cooked with me when I was little and that I can cook with my kids while they are little.
23 wet wipes with scrubbies
24 Dinosaurs (to give me 25 min ALL to myself)
25 my maid (oh wait, I'd be thankful if I had a maid) I am thankful to be healthy enough to take care of things around my house (but anyone is welcome to stop by and fold this laundry)
26 Candy (and it's bizarre effects on Claire last night) I needed that giggle
27 Thermometers that don't take a long time (poor Nick)
28 Water with Ice

Nodan mamomamo

Nodan mamomamo- Thank you (in Hindi)
This afternoon I was blessed to walk to school with one of the mother's from Claire's class. She has triplets Claire's age and twins in first grade. That alone blows my mind. She is Indian, and admitted to me that she 'doesn't cook American food'. I wonder if she'd teach me to cook some Indian food? She's such a calming and quiet personality. I like her. I am adding her to the list of people I want to get to know better this year. (Nov. to Nov.)
In other news, Nick is sick. Claire got glowing reviews at parent teacher conference and my husband returns home. :)
And now some new things I am thankful for.

14 Ibuprofen
15 blankets
16 sippy cups
17 husbands - in particular mine but I'm also thankful for the wonderful husbands that my sisters found. (whoa, who typed that!)
18 Socks
19 crayons and coloring books so good for stress relief
20 pillows!

Merci

10 footsie pajamas -
and the fact that I have called them footie pajamas forever and when I typed that into my phone it auto corrected it to footsie pajamas. I just love that my phone knows what footsie pajamas are :) (and yes it corrected it as a phrase and not just the single word)

11 Warm showers on cloudy days.
There is just something about steam that makes everything just melt away... worries, frustrations, anger and of course dirt.

12 Sister in laws
and not being alone on my anniversary while my hubby works hard so he can take me out somewhere REALLY nice :)

13 (bonus!) Hugs
It never ceases to amaze me how a hug can change my mood in a second. And it seems like the smaller the arms the happier it makes me. :)

Ďakujem

7 Great kids who let me enjoy a lovely breakfast all by myself and who slept like they knew about daylight savings. :)

8 Sunshine! and beautiful fall leaves to enjoy.
It's a bit cold but not too cold to be out and about. (Glad I'm not running the marathon although I wish I was seeing the start today)

9 I'm thankful for my husband.
He's been away for what feels like the entire weekend and even though I'm still up (coffee at 4pm) and he's asleep it's nice just to have him close.

Gracias

4 Forgiveness and hugs; I know that's two but they are best when they come together.

5 Getting stuff free for being cute.

6 phones so I could chat with friends and family who are far away. (I miss you guys)

Thankful

This year I have had a lot to be thankful for.
I have a house that has heat and electricity and running water, I have a husband who comes home to his family at night, I have two healthy and intelligent children who have good manners (for the most part). I have a wonderful relationship with my parents and siblings who I wouldn't trade for anything.
This year I will participate in the '100 Things I'm Thankful for Event'. Started by my mother and perpetuated by my sisters.
I think I'll have 3 things each day.. one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening before bed, just to keep my thankful the whole day not just one rushed weekend evening when I realize I have not been thankful for an entire week. (But who knows.. I work well last minuet and when guilt or pressure are applied... )
Here goes:

1 Missing the UPS guy yesterday so I know there is a package coming today (it's like Christmas)

2 Having people to giggle with over the stupid things.

3 The ability to wink and the fact that it's the little things that impress my kids... I know it won't be like that forever.

Halloween

I really got into Halloween this year. I made themed food for Claire's lunch and adorable favors for her class party. I decorated with light up spiders in the window and a TON of jack-o-lanterns out front. I bought my Halloween candy a month ahead of time (and didn't eat ANY before today). I am counting Halloween a success. We still have to go trick or treating with friends tonight but how could that go wrong?

Oh that's right SNOW!? It's supposed to be all gone but it really made me think about winterizing our costumes... I'm not sure if it would have been possible.

So we'll put on our costumes and hit the streets tonight; have your candy ready!

Happy Halloween!

Pre-Halloween

This weekend we were celebrating pre-Halloween and all that is fall. We went to the farm with Grandma Mary, Jen and Joe. And paid out the nose to pet some animals (sheep, guinea pigs, llamas, chickens, bunnies and turtles). We also rode a hay ride and jumped on some hay bales. And the highlight as always was the chickens who ate half a chocolate chip cookie and a few blades of grass and were very chatty with the kids. Fun was had by all. :)

We carved pumpkins- ok I carved and the kids put together faces for the pumpkins... They are still doing it (6 hours later). I just printed out some simple jack-o-lantern patterns and then cut out the different elements and the kids could rearrange to their hearts content. They used eyebrows as facial hair, eyes as noses and one even sported a smiley hat. Then we chose the favorite faces and carved them into the cleaned out pumpkins. Claire even got into the action and stuck her hand IN a pumpkin this year!!

All in all not a bad weekend-before-the-holiday...

My List

I've been thinking a lot lately - since my afternoons are fairly quiet. (ha ha - Nick is screaming that Claire took his train and she's at school) Thinking about what I want out of my life... I've taken some time off, not just off of work (can I say that if I never actually worked?) but off of life. I have not gone out in a Looong time (and never without some guilt for not being home with the kids or my husband), I have not really made many friends to go out with actually, I don't do things that I enjoy very often either because I'm too tired, to frazzled or out of time. SO.
I'm making a list- even if it just helps me find myself and what I want now that my life is so different than the last time I evaluated it (many moons ago). So here are a few ideas of things I would like to do in the near future...
Get my Masters Degree
Take a language class at Community College
Visit Italy
Go to the Dinosaur Park with the Kids
Find more time for my marriage
There are a few others that I'm not ready to put on in ink quite yet but I really think that's a start and I'd like to thank budgetsare$exy for the kick in the pants to make this list... check out some other lists for inspiration over here. (plus they are giving away some $$ to make it all possible)

First Day of School

There are no words.

Claire just asked for her milk in a shot glass.

Heartache

Conversation I had earlier with Claire :

(Claire is hanging off the bed pulling on the comforter)
M: You are going to break my bed and then I'm going to have to break your butt
C: If you break my butt I'll have to break your brain
(Claire thinks about it a second then her expression softens)
C: But not your heart, I'll never break your heart mommy.

Oh that that could be true my love.

My Independant Kid

Claire starts preK next Thursday.

It is crazy to think that just 4 years ago I was terrified about having a baby and couldn't wait for her to grow up and get more independent. Now that she has done just that I'm terrified again but this time I'm nervous for her- how will she adapt to being away from Nick and I for 3 hrs a day?- Will she find a little friend to play with?- Will she listen well to other adults? I know that answer to those questions: She will adapt just fine and is in fact completely ready to have some independence- she is a friendly kid and any kid who doesn't want to be her friend is obviously defective - She is a respectful kid who listens and takes direction well. I love her and feel completely secure and hugely grateful for the time I've spent so far shaping her into a beautiful woman who is respectful, responsible, loving and kind.
So she's ready but I don't think I am.
I see now that a lot of that crazy school shopping is in fact retail therapy for the mothers who are getting ready to experience separation anxiety themselves.
To the backpack store!

Date Night

Went on a date with my husband- a dressed up without the kids date.
(I think it's our first ever)
It was a great night.

I still love him (and it's been almost 5 years!)

Princess Cookies with Claire

If you are a fairy princess

or just like the way they dress
then wave your magic wand
and create cookies from beyond!

Now take a bowl and whip the butter
Now's not the time to use the cutter
Next blend the mix and water, too
and make yourself a gooey-goo

Say the magic words, but please don't blink
Watch as your dough turns incredibly pink!
now cover your dough and let it chill
in the fridge, not on the windowsill!

Roll the cooled dough out with your rolling pin
Nice and flat, just not too, too thin
Use the cutter to make perfect stars
Place them not too near and not too far

Now you need a grown-up princess or prince
It's not such hard work, they really won't wince
They should open the over n and put in the sheet
Then wait twelve minutes for this magical treat

Once the cookies cool, add your magical touch
With some icing and fairy dust... just not too much!
Then call in all the fairies for a special treat
And feed them pink cookies to eat - so sweet.

Splashing in the Rain

Today it rained.

We spent the morning sorting clothes for the fall and water painting.

After lunch it was apparent that it was not going to stop raining so we geared up to go out.
Boots, Coats, Umbrella- Check!

Here is Nick standing in the world's smallest puddle- somehow he crammed both his feet into it :)

Nick sees the huge puddle- Nick RUNS to the huge puddle-
Nick splashes in the HUGE puddle!

We also experimented with different water slide technique.

If Claire held up her right leg she could go so fast she flew off the bottom and 'splashed down'. Nick just had to lay back and he flew off the end.

All in all not a bad day for having it rain all day.
They are forecasting rain again tomorrow... Maybe we'll break out the sewing machine...

One Proud Mama

This is the one where Nick wears undies to bed and stays dry
then wears them out all day the next day and stays dry! :)
His mama couldn't be more proud!

My Neighborhood

Drove around my neighborhood a bit tonight with the windows down and discovered several new gems that I didn't know about before. The top attraction:

A

Check That- This Was the Best.

Today we got up early...

got in the car- threw up once- crossed 4 lanes of traffic for bagels and boarded a boat.

When we got off the boat we walked through the 'sunken forest' on Fire Island (a different end of Fire Island than last week).
It was less populated and we had an entire stretch of beach almost entirely to ourselves.
We dug right in.

Yes Nick's rash guard says 'whipper snapper' :)

And now get ready to see a completely untainted expression of joy and carefree-ness.

All in all we did some other things on the island but none of them compared to the absolute joy of letting the kids run free and wild on a deserted beach not more than an hour away from our home.
plus I didn't take any pictures of them.
you're welcome.

And we can't wait another 12 days till mommy will be completely full of joy!

Perfect Beach Day

Yesterday (and today in all truth) Claire woke up wanting to climb a lighthouse. Why? We have no clue. But because she has such a great and spontaneous dad we packed up and hit the road with promises to meet Grandma and Grandpa Bill on Fire Island.

We hiked up to the lighthouse, after it had closed since you have to be about 40 inches tall to climb any lighthouse. (another year Claire, sorry) It was beautiful! The sun was setting, the birds were singing, it wasn't too crowded. The perfect end to our day.

Claire was concerned that the lighthouse would fall on her because of the cracks in it. Nick thought it was great fun and we discovered some great new facts about lighthouses.
Did you know they are all painted differently to aid the sailors in knowing where they are? Interesting- no?

We decided to walk the beach back to the car on and hopefully get to catch the tail end of the sunset over the dunes.

I will spare you the details and pictures (that I did not take) of what we actually saw on our trip back to the car on the beach. Suffice it to say it was a different type of moon than is pictured above.