Some Enchanted Evening

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd - 2008

Brian and I used to have movie night once a week - usually late Saturday night.  We'd put Joe to bed and then each week one of us would take turns picking a movie.  We kind of fell out of that habit and haven't had movie night in a while.  So, when Brian suggested we have a movie night tonight, I was all for it.  He picked the movie this time:  Enchanted.

He's been extra busy at work.  They are trying to get the new store opened.  He had to work Saturday (1/2 day) and Monday, which was supposed to be a holiday.  So, I was happy to be able to curl up on the couch and watch a movie with him.  There's nothing better than hanging out with your sweetie.

He also brought home a bag of ice from Sonic today.  I love ice, and Sonic has the best.  I'm so glad you can buy it by the bag and bring it home.  
Yum!

Cartoon Sky

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1st - 2008

I know I've already done a post about clouds before, but I couldn't help myself today.  The sky was awesome.  Today was what Joe and I like to call "cartoon sky".   That just means that there were a lot of white puffy clouds spaced apart from each other and a beautiful blue color to the sky - just like you see in the cartoons(picture the intro to "The Simpsons").  It's so pretty, it looks fake.   

I don't know what it is, but I have a thing for clouds.  Whenever they are out in abundance, I want to take pictures.  I guess it's because living in Arizona, we don't get them much.  It's usually just glaring, blinding sunlight.

Also today was Labor day - no school.  Joe had a couple of friends come over to swim at my mom's this afternoon.  Michael, Dallin and Alex joined in the fun.  I think they had a pretty good time.

Lastly, Nadal won (again).  

Snickerdooles

SUNDAY, AUGUST 31st - 2008

I have a lot of nicknames for Joe - Bo, Ho Ho, Boss Man, mojo jojo - to name a few.  One of my favorites though is "Snickerdoodle".  There are 2 reasons I call him this.  The first is quite obvious:  His favorite cookies are snickerdoodles (and he's sweet like a snickerdoodle).  The second reason I call him this is because of the sprinkling of light brown freckles across his nose and cheeks.  It reminds me of the cinnamon sprinkled on the top of a snickerdoodle cookie.  This is one of his oldest nicknames.  I've been calling him this since he was about 2 or 3.  He's 11 now and I'm sure he would like me to retire this nickname, but I can't help it.  As long as he has that sprinkling of freckles, he will always be my snickerdoodle.

Here is a close up shot of his cinnamon sprinkles.

He actually earned another nickname this weekend:  ED.  It stands for: Easily Distracted.  Sometimes, to motivate him to go faster, I call him "Special Ed."  Am I mean or what?  It's ok.  He knows I love him

Do you have any nicknames for your kids? 

mushrooms, football & Mamma Mia

SATURDAY, AUGUST 30th - 2008

Today Joseph went to mow the lawn at my mom's house.  As he was mowing the front yard he came across a bunch of mushrooms growing in the yard.  For some reason mushrooms are fantasy, fairytales and magic to me.  I haven't seen one in the yard for so long.  They used to grow there all of the time when I was little.  When the weather was nice, one of my favorite things to do would be to grab a blanket and a book and hang out in the grass for a while.  So, I took a photo to try and capture some of the magic and memories of my childhood.

Tonight was the first night of the ASU football season.  Brian, Joe, Tricia and Jared went.  I was worried that Joe might get bored because he was the only kid going, but after the game he told me he had a blast and that Tricia is his new best friend.  He said they ran all the way back to the car after the game and then hid and, (to use Joseph's words): "scared the crap out of Jared".  I'm just glad that he had a good time.
Don't worry about me, I didn't get lonely while they were gone.  I went out with some friends to see the SING A LONG version of Mamma Mia.  Yeah, it's getting ridiculous how many times I've seen the movie, but it was way more fun this time because when I felt like singing, I COULD!  And at the end of the movie when my friend got up and started dancing and then made me join her, it was awesome.  There were 10 of us that went.  I had a blast.  Afterwards we went out to Chili's for some dessert.  Thanks to Karen for inviting me.  I had a great time.  

Addy's birthday party

FRIDAY, AUGUST 29th - 2008

Happy birthday to Addy.  Addy is cute, sassy, sweet, silly and tons of fun.  I love hanging out with this girl.  

Addy's birthday was actually yesterday, but her party was today.  I was lucky to be invited.  Mom and Max came with me.  When we pulled up to the house, there were no cars in front of it, so we were a little worried, but Max said that the kids mom's probably dropped them off.

He was right.  This is what he saw when he walked in the door - a whole house full of girls (there were actually more girls than are pictured here).  It was a tinkerbell party after all.  Max was a little mortified.  He made a beeline for Rowan's room and shut the door.  He hid out in there for a little while.

Don't worry, he found some of Rowan's toys to keep him occupied.  Ro and I even hung out in the room with him for a while.  Then, a bunch of girls came through the door.  He didn't say a word.  He just set down the toy, got up and silently walked out of the room.  He did eventually warm up.  He came out to decorate a goodie bag.  Trina got him his own Spiderman stickers to use.  He liked that.  He also liked filling it with tons of candy.

Here is Addy blowing out the candles on her cake.  I can't believe she is 4.  Time goes by too fast.

Then it was time for presents.  Addy's favorite movie right now is The Land Before Time.  She loves Cera, and was happy to get a Cera toy for her birthday.
I had to leave a little early to go pick up Joe from school, so I didn't get to see her open all of her presents.  The girls were so cute though.  They all crowded around Addy trying to get her to open their present first.  I overheard one girl saying: "Open my present.  It's awesome!"

Max came with me to pick up Joe.  I asked him if he had a good time at the party.  He said he did.  I did too.  Thanks for inviting me Addy.

I'm officially a magician's assistant

THURSDAY, AUGUST 28th - 2008

Today I was officially named Joe's magician assistant.  Earlier this week we ordered a few things off of a magic website.  The package came today.  Can you even guess how excited Joe was?  He had to practice his tricks a lot, and decided he needs someone to assist him, guess who got the job?  Me.  

This trick is awesome.  It's hard for a picture to do it justice, but he can spin this card and make it levitate.  It's not just lying on the couch there, it's floating in the air.  It's hard to tell with a 2 dimensional picture.  

He couldn't wait to show this trick to Brian when he got home from work.   Brian was skeptical at first, and had to touch Joseph's hands to make sure there was nothing on them - no string or anything.  After that, he was very impressed.

It was funny, after I put Joseph to bed for the night, I caught Brian playing with the levitating card, trying to figure out how it is done.  He couldn't.  He begged me to tell him how it's done, but, alas, a magician's assistant never reveals the secrets.

On a separate note, Josh and Rowan were both sporting their ASU shirts today.  Perhaps they are looking forward to ASU football season which starts this weekend.

Also, Rafael Nadal won his tennis match today and will advance to the next round of the U.S. Open.

Lastly - rain today.

Was today a great day or what?

Yeah, I'm a nerd.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27th - 2008

So, I've been having fun helping Joseph with his homework this week.  He had a huge packet sent home with pages about maps and longitude, latitude, locating states, countries, continents, oceans, etc.  So, we pulled out the Atlas and the colored pencils and got to work. 

I love Maps so much.  I'll admit it, I'm a nerd.  I can't help it.  
Brian's mom gave Joe this book for Christmas a couple of years ago.  I've looked through it several times.  It was very helpful with Joe's homework this week.

Now, if I could only get this excited about his Math homework (yeah, that's NEVER going to happen).