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Life with kids is so busy, isn’t it? I don’t think I really understood the old phrase “not enough hours in the day” until I had these kids. Hm. But I am grateful for the time that I do have.

Neeners right now is decorating my foot with Halloween stickers and making it “fooky”, and Morella is making a fooky scene in my journal out of stickers. We woke up to a rainy gloomy day, but as I write this very instant … the sun shown through. Maybe it won’t be gloomy all day…hey I will take that. My only big plan for the day is to take a shower, write a letter to my Mom, go to Target for AAA batteries, clean up the house. OH yeah and I have to pick up our new bathroom window from Home Depot sometime soon along with some wood shins and caulk. We were going to have the window replaced today but I found out last minute yesterday that we would need a permit for this. Suck!

I guess it gives me a few more days to figure out this tile situation. I should be dedicating a whole evening to watching videos and reading up on it, planning out a pattern getting supplies instead of watching TV and movies. I guess we had a pretty jam packed couple of days and yesterday I was crabby so … yeah.

Friday night we left the girls with Lowen and met up with Ann and Peter at Olbrich Gardens for Crackle and Froth. It was fun, but I was disappointed that the 8 firepits they had were ensconced by camping chairs, which had a few occupants. But for the most part, access to warming fire was very limited. I complained twice. I should get on that letter too. Anyway, I had too much to drink and should have paid for it more than I did the next day. I guess sometimes you get lucky. Still a very close call.

Saturday we had soccer practice and then hung out at home all day.

Sunday, we went to Henry Vilas Zoo for trick or treating — Morella looked fabulous and Neeners was cute. It was incredibly busy and poorly planned as usual. We walked around, met up with some friends and looked at animals. When it started to rain we stopped by Cafe Zu Zu to get the girls something to drink, and a treat. I got them an italian soda and watched as they just poured strawberry syrup into fountain drink sprite. Ewww..way too sweet. We went home and changed, ate some lunch and then I gave the girls the “Optional Zoo Goody Bag” (aka the bag of goodies if you opt to not trick or treat — great idea right?) Thanks, I made it up. I also made the goody bag and filled with a little candy and some trinket things I keep around. Morella and Neeners loved it, and Morella even said later in the day that it was her favorite part. I am planning on making another goody bag just in case trick or treating at the Capitol/State Street is too busy for the girls to stave off massive disappointment.

At 2:00 we were playing the last soccer game of the year. Thank god. Why we ever thought it was a good idea for a 3 year old soccer team to even exist is beyond me. We had the worst team of anyone we met. Getting three kids to stay on the field at at one time was practically impossible (out of 7). I am just so glad it is done and we don’t have to resort to bribery on a weekly basis. After the game we celebrated with egg/nut free cupcakes, the kids played in the leaves and on the playground equipment and we left just as it started to pour.

We drove over to the West side of Madison to meet up with some friends for a hay wagon ride and making smore’s around a campfire. Neeners crashed out during the ride but woke up and was happy after a bumpy wagon right and playing with Chuck S. and his daughter Daphne. We left after and hour because the day was catching up with us to get some taco’s from Fuzzy’s before heading home to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas with some popcorn.

Morella made it through the movie fine. Neeners went to bed halfway through. However, Morella has gotten up the past two nights with nightmares. I don’t know if it is because of the movie or all the Halloween stuff in general. She is started to be intrigued with the spooky aspect of Halloween and I think daring herself to see/do more.

Yesterday I got an insulting email from my brother and perhaps over reacted a bit. It flavored my mood for most of the rest of the day though. But I did manage to turn it around by going out for a mocha with Morella and then looked at all the little shops at the Lake Edge Shopping Center, which includes a Ben Franklin, a Craft Market, a florist, a trendy baby store and a shoe store with a push pedal merry go round. I was impressed that Morella stopped the crafting we were doing to leave the house and do this together after I had suggested it. I guess she was hankering for some one on one time.

We got home with about 20 minutes to get ourselves ready for our annual family portrait shoot. We were going to meet Sara at Olbrich for photos. It was a beautiful day and perfect for taking pictures. I hope we got a good one. We had to bribe the girls with the promise of ice cream for some smiles (okay, I guess the bribery isn’t over yet) so we had dinner afterward at Micheal’s. Lots of eating out this past week. I keep telling myself that it is okay since we are going to be spending so much time inside once winter gets here. Except you know, at that point I will probably be telling myself that we need to get out as much as possible.

Anyway, I have blogged too long. On to the next mundane thing.

Well I survived. Sorry I didn’t get around to documenting the rest of it. Things got busy. Heck things are always busy. Tim came back on Saturday night and brought me a fantastic box of Halloween Rocky Mountain chocolates that are amazing. I have been sticking to one a day after the girls are in bed. He got Morella a zoo stamping kit from Melissa and Douglas that she loves, and a Splatter Thomas the Train train, which Neeners isn’t too fond off. Sheesh. It is nice to have a purple train though that is new and different. I am sure Soren will love it in the upcoming years. Uncle Ben sent home two matching advent calendars for the girls, which they will love because they are candy nuts.

On Saturday after soccer practice and general milling about the house, I met up with Ann and Noah and we headed to Mt. horeb to walk around and have dinner at the Grumpy Troll. It was nice and the kids were exceptionally well behaved. Afterward we went to the park near their water park for some late evening romping. It is sad to see how dark it is by 7 now. I am looking forward to the holiday lights to battle the darkness.

I was just commenting to Tim the other day that I am thrilled that the Holidays are finally here. Halloween, Tim’s Birthday, Morella’s Birthday, Thanksgiving, St. Nick’s Day, Christmas, New Years and then my own birthday. Lots of fun stuff to look forward to. I have been actually preparing for Christmas since July. Buying things here and there. Christmas is going to be nuts this year because it is at Grandma and Grandpa B’s house and there will be 8 kids 6 and under running amuck. You gotta prepare in advance for that.

For Thanksgiving, I am going to host it at my brother Shane’s with some help from Lori and Shannon. I guess it would be more accurate to say co- hosting. I any case, I am excited about that and the possibility of my Mom being there for a couple days while we are there so the girls get to spend more time with her.

Then I have to think about getting our family portrait done for the Christmas cards this year. Not to mention the whole bathroom fiscal, and Tim suggested we refinance the mortgage, and then I was thinking about soliciting quotes for remodeling the basement ( the biggest factor is removing the asbestos tiles and installing tile drains and a sub pump, so that any future renovations are not in vain). That all makes me think about drafting a new budget and sticking to it and not spending any money for the next six months.

Ugh, of course I went to Target tonight to get some wire stacking shelves for the new metal shelf I put in the kitchen to get rid of the wooden shelving unit I got 12 years ago used in exchange for helping someone move, and the ikea wooden shelf. While I was at Target for the practical things, a few unnecessary things found their way into my cart….as it always happens at Target. Morella helped me do that project today and it looks awesome. So much better than what I had before, and now we can see everything. Plus it still allows us to keep two of the cat boxes in the kitchen, and they can’t ruin the shelf because it is metal. Sometimes I wish cats had the life expectancy of dogs.

Morella is way into crafts and arts and now we do one every day. I am excited about finally being able to use my massive collection of artsy and crafty things and think of fun things to do. I can just imagine how much fun it will be when Neeners really gets into it too.

Tim has started to cook dinner every night. Well almost every night. We are only getting into week 3 of it, and last week I was on my own. I still cook…today I made a soup with the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner, which I made, but Tim found the recipe. It has been nice to not have to stress about getting in time to cook while entertaining the girls. I still do all the clean up, which I don’t mind because I am better at it.

I went and visited my friend Stephanie whom I haven’t seen in many months. I thought before I went to bed last night that I was going to make an effort to see her and another friend Emily at least once a month. I feel like I finally am getting my groove back after a summer long hiatus. It is like these projects that have been brewing for two years are finally starting to get themselves finished. It is exhilarating, and at the same time I wish I had more hours to work on more things.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but I just love Morella’s age. I have a feeling that 4 is going to be the best age yet. It nice balance to even out a rage, tantrum filled Neeners. I love my Neens, I do, but I could do with a few less screaming sessions from her. I do love that both of the girls spend a lot of time playing together, creating stories and enjoying each others company. Since they play so well together, it is easy to forget or procrastinate hanging out with the other moms and kids I used to when it was just Morella and No-neen to infant-neen.

I was a little worried that I wouldn’t get up in time for Soren this morning at 9:00 and thought about setting an alarm. But then again I figured the knocking on the door would wake me, or Lowen would call and my phone was right by the bed…but really, I knew that the girls would wake me up. You know, it’s surreal sometimes to think that this is my life now. That I don’t have to wake up to an alarm any more, and I can just go about living everyday relatively schedule free. Which is kind of dumb because kids are totally schedule happy and we do follow sort of a routine…

Anyway. They were up and fighting this morning early. I was awake and had the coffee going by 8:00AM, though I didn’t actually get to start drinking any of it until 9:30. It rained last night and this morning, which is the first time in several weeks so it had a special cozy feel about it. The cooling temperature has made the leaves in the backyard start to fall like crazy. I tried to mow yesterday before it started but the effing lawnmower wouldn’t prime. I took it apart and looked at it, blew on it, stuck a stick around it to clear out grime and grass and still nothing! I kicked it and put it away. It would have been a lot easier to rake the 2.2 ton of leaves in the back yard if the grass were a bit shorter. Stupid lawn mower.

Morella got a TV holiday this morning, I left it on for three hours! Neeners lost interest after Sesame Street for the most part and Soren couldn’t care less. Later on we baked an apple cake. Well, the girls mostly made it and it took forever. Neeners lost interest half way through the flour measuring and left. Morella though, she’s a baker that girl! She even ran to her room and found her kid bundt cake pan and was so thrilled to make her very own little bundt cake (no nuts). She insisted that it have frosting on it afterward and so I whipped up a little glaze for it. It turned out pretty good. The adult version, with it’s walnuts and no frosting, was very good too. Then I made some apple crisp. I couldn’t find my good recipe that I got from Tim’s Mom years ago and used a different one that got high ratings from allrecipes.com — but it sucked. It was way to watery. Anyway, it was edible so I gave some of both to Jason when he picked up Soren for them all to share, my neighbor’s Karen and Donovan (the girls love them to bits), and drove over and dropped some off at Sigrid’s place because she was sick and having a bad day. When she texted later to say it was awesome, Morella practically blushed from the compliment.

After that we drove to Hyvee for dinner. I got the turkey dinner, a side of fruit and just split it three ways. They give you so much food that it always works out, and probably will work out for several more years. Maybe it will balance out when Soren starts joining us on these lunch trips…though by then Morella will be in school. Aww…I can’t think of that yet. Her late 3’s have been super…and I am excited to see what 4 will bring us. She is so engaging, thoughtful, crafty and clever. When we were finished eating we headed over to Savers to check out Halloween costumes. We riffled through the used costumes but she wasn’t impressed and Neeners was saying yes to everything. Then we saw the new (not that expensive) costumes and found a princess dress that has optic fiber glass in the skirt and freaking lights up when you press a button. It is amazing and so cool. Sadly it was the only one. So we went to look at Halloween Express after that to find one for Neeners — no luck. Morella closed her eyes and I walked her through the whole store without her looking. I think she might be starting to get over her fear hump. She is starting to be interested in spooky things…from afar. Then we went to Old Navy and they were almost all out of Halloween stuff. Neeners found a little pumpkin headband and wanted it. I got an awesome sweater. I have decided that Neeners will be a Jack O Lantern Fairy, and I will create an awesome costume and the cut out of a jack o lantern face will light up (either with LED lights or glow sticks…haven’t decided yet). And Morella will be a Twilight Fairy (will add face paint to the both of them). Ohh so exciting. I was remembering how I used to get so excited about Halloween — well into my 20’s, and would spend lots of time working on great costumes. I also loved seeing what else other people put together. I sort of lost that the past couple of years, but it might be coming back.

Got home by 8:45 and the kids were in bed by 9:00. Neeners has a late nap so I knew she wouldn’t have gone to sleep any sooner than that. I find that the time alone is … well lonely. But having the TV on helps (man I haven’t watched this much TV in ages). But it being a rainy night doesn’t help either. I had these big dreams of cleaning this whole place up … and mostly I just spent it crashed in front of the TV, while looking at the computer and writing in my journals. Aww who am I kidding, I have been wanting to do that for a very long time.

We had another video chat with Tim today and Morella counted to 10 for him…hurray! She got a special present for that. The Princess Celestia and Luna combo pack that she has been eying for months — that we have had for months because it is one of those limited edition things that would have disappeared by the time her birthday and christmas rolled around. So yeah..new ponies and a light up dress. She sure got a lot today, but she has also been really good. Patient and helpful with Neeners, a great help with Soren and a super help to me.

First day of single parenting edition four is complete. Tim left this morning at 7 for his annual DBA PASS conference in Seattle and will return late Saturday night. So I have four more days to go. All in all, we survived. That said the first day could have been a little easier.

I know, it’s a broken record, but something is up with Neeners. This morning after I was outed from bed by two fighting little girls (in my bed) at 8:00 and putting up with it for almost an hour, I got everyone dressed and made plans with another mom and her boys to meet at Olbrich Beach. It was a beautiful day, I had a bag of dried out cut off bread crusts to feed ducks and the girls love the beach. It was a no brained and our last probably outing for the year. It reminds me of last year when we went…it is strange how many things we do the same each year. The weather, I would like to mention is a lot like last year, so it is not strange to have another warm start to October.

Anyway, Morella and her friend Caleb had a total blast feeding the ducks and seagulls, walking into the seaweed filled water, and screaming at the seagulls for being naughty. They played in sand, searched for snail shells and climbed a little hill, which Morella explained was a lot like the dunes we saw in Michigan on vacation. Even Caleb’s little brother Auggie had a good time hanging out near his Mom. The only one who was miserable for no good reason was Neeners. She screamed and howled and wanted to go home, be picked up and let down, nurse, eat something and not eat something. When we finally did go home she passed out within 15 minutes and took a hour and a half nap. When she woke up, she was soon back at being the crabbiest toddler on the block. I even gave her some Tylenol at 2, but her boat didn’t turn around until around 5, after I pushed them on the swings for a half an hour. Then she and Morella were the best of friends and stayed that way until bedtime. I just don’t get it. What is wrong with you Neeners?! Tell me! Ugh.

Meanwhile, I got a lot done today. We had our first ever video chat via gplus hang outs. Morella loved talking to Tim and it made it so easy for us to have a phone conversation. I swept and washed the kitchen floor. I peeled and cut up the apples we picked across the Moravian Church a week ago and put it in the fridge for tomorrow to make something. I wrote a letter to my Mom and then called her. I found out that she was going home two weeks early from her visit with Shane because she was sick again. I feel bad for her because she was having such a good time. Stupid illness. She thinks that her bronchitis and sinus infection came back. Sigh. I hope that she gets better and goes back to Shane’s because it was doing so much good for her.

What else. Oh I was bringing back the garbage cans from the curb and walked into the house to hear banging…then a tinkle. I went into the bedroom and caught Neeners covered in glitter water and glass. They were kicking the wall with two little shelves attached over Morella’s bed that had breakables. The vibration knocked off two things that broke (a heart shaped glass tray and an Easter snow globe). Ugh! I was not happy. I took Neeners to the bathroom and washed her arm, took off her clothes and shook them out. Morella wanted in on the action and claimed the drop she had on her shirt was from the same accident. So I left them to play in the bathroom while I hand vacced the bed, shook out the blankets outside, took up the sheets and changed them …and Neeners too because Neeners has three bites that may or may not be from a skeeters…ugh that is a story for another time. Anyway.

Yeah, thin broken glass all over a bed is just what I wanted to deal with at the end of a long day. So yeah, it was cleaned up, I expressed I was not happy about them kicking the wall, and they wisely stayed out of my way while I cleaned it up. I think they were probably relieved they didn’t get a time out or a shouting.

They went to bed okay, and I am unwisely watching more episodes of Bones while writing in my journals. Oh I folded some laundry…

The real challenge will be tomorrow when I have Soren. Who will hold him while I go to the bathroom? I guess that means I gotta wear elastic jammies all day. . Also, Morella has been wonderful with Soren the last week and I hope that continues. I think she likes being a super big girl and help take care of a baby. I just hope that whatever is up with Neeners is better tomorrow.

My go to sandwich for Morella right now is cheddar cheese, with a little salad dressing ( miracle whip generic). Neeners prefers a Nutella sandwich.

“Don’t you dare take my fucking kitten.”

The Cat House is always a big hit, except this year that cat Morella is holding mauled her leg after she dumped it to the ground. It grabbed on for dear life. Morella actually took it pretty well and hobbled about only a little big after medicine and a bandage was applied. Neeners meanwhile, could have stayed there all afternoon. Oh and the boy to the left is Morella’s soccer teammate Kian, also an excellent kitten holder.

Neeners chose a white/greenish pumpkin.

Special guests on this beautiful day included Morella’s Grandparents- who also made it to her soccer game right before hand.

This morning we barely made it to ballet class because we were all so tired from our action packed awesome weekend. It was one of the classes where parents get to watch, and I was able to enjoy the whole show alone as I left Neeners at home with Tim. The last time I got to watch a class I noticed it, and this time was no exception — but Morella is chatterbox. She is that kid that barely references the question and goes on to tell you what she wants to talk about. In this case, she was telling the class all about her trip to the pumpkin patch (she did it again 3 more times and I had to shush her from a distance the last time). You can see how excited everyone is to hear about it.

You know, when I think about it blogging used to be a much easier thing to do. I could just hop over to the computer and throw up a little post between this and that. It was especially easy when I was at work. Ha ha. Anyway. I think my blogging has also take a hit because Tim is working from home now and occupying the desktop most of the day. The computer has GIMP, and also archives all my photos, in addition to being in a location where the kids can’t climb all over me asking me what I am doing and wanting to play “bubbles”. Oh yeah, and of the course the Ipad is incapable of doing any sort of photos. Not that photos are what is all about. It isn’t, and I know that the few readers I have left would prefer that I just write something without pictures as opposed to a whole lotta nothing. How can I change this? What can I do to get back into blogging, and writing again? Hm.

Speaking of Ipad, I was off to take a shower this morning after a surprise visit from Hilary bearing fancy coffee (I chose the pumpkin spice soy latte because … it was soy and because I have been wanting to drink one of this drinks because every one is talking about it all the freaking time. I don’t get it because it is a latte and I am lactose intolerant, and it just isn’t the same with soy and why sully a great thing with soy in case I hate it…but as a gift? Well then it’s just perfect!) Especially since I had just gotten out of bed to two darlings screaming down the hall “Someone knocked on the door Mom! Someone is here!” If anything I had to get out of bed to stop them from going into hysterics. And you know, it was like 9:00 A.M.

After a great visit, and a shower (which first involved having me tape up part of the shower wall), catching the girls drawing in my IPad with crayons, and getting dressed, I got the girls dressed. Then I spent a half an hour looking for my keys, which were in my bag the whole time. I had looked 4 times and even had Morella “look” once .. .as in she probably looked over at the bag. Plus the kids were fighting everything I did and got distracted every other half second. Anyway. I finally got out of the house and we headed over to Epelgaarden to pick some apples and raspberries. I have gone here ever year since having kids and I couldn’t miss my chance to snap a shot of them in the How Tall this Fall. I just couldn’t. Besides the day was absolutely beautiful, it was a school day and the middle of the afternoon so the place was ours. It is days like this where being a SAHM rocks more than anything.

Morella, in October 2009 – Our first time at Epelgaarden. I was holding 6 week old Neeners who was sleeping.

Morella and Neeners with friends October 2010

Morella and Neeners, October 2011

Me and the girls

On the wagon — Neeners didn’t last long. It was too bumpy for her. She ran most of the time and in the end I carried her.

Camera on a timer, perched by some mini pumpkins = lopsided.

Morella by some flowers, it was too sunny for her to give me anything other than the pirate squinty eyed looked and this face. Can’t quite see it? Here is a close up from yesterday.