Another Project

I have been wanting Michael to organize and paint our garage for a while now. He painted my Mom and Dad's garage after they moved into their new place and it just brightened it up and made it not such a creepy crawly space. Ours is definitely a creepy crawly space. Plus the organization that we have going on in there really isn't working the way it should. So the plan is to paint the walls and the garage doors...see the black....so dark! Then Michael is going to build shelves that actually hold storage containers and then we get to organize it all.

This is the part of the garage that is connected to the house. The door on the right goes into the house. The area by the garage door is where I'm going to put a new cabinet that I got at the Mill Creek garage sales. We are going to stash the gas can, fertilizers and poisons in there so the kids won't be able to get into it.

That wood cabinet came with the house. It's nice to have closed storage, but it needs to be organized and used better than it is right now.

There normally is a wall of storage containers up against the back of the garage wall, but they are all residing in our dining room right now. Along with all the baby stuff we weren't using. I wanted to bring it all inside so it wouldn't get dirty during this process. See the beige cabinet? That's the one I got at the Mill Creek garage sales. It was still in the box and I got it for $10. It had a price tag on it from Linen's N Things for $69.99! I love getting a deal!


This is awful...what a mess. This is the painting, tool and camping storage section of the garage. Once this whole process is done this entire wall is going to be 2 X 4 shelves and it's going to be ORGANIZED! I love that word! :)

This is after a couple hours of Michael working. He had moved everything into the center of the garage and was removing all the shelves. The downside to this whole process is my van will be parked outside for a couple weeks.

There are two other reasons we are doing this project. I really want to have a nice, clean, fun place for the boys to play other than the house during the yucky rainy months. It's so nice to have a change of scenery for them and since we can't park Michael's work truck in the garage we have one whole side to use for the boys to play with their outside toys. Also we need to move a bunch of stuff that's in our current spare bedroom out to the garage since it's going to now be Ella's room. Stay tuned for updates! :)

Update On Potty Training

Forgive me Owen...Mama couldn't resist! You just look so cute sitting there reading your books.

Like I've stated in a previous post we recently experienced a MAJOR setback with potty training. Mama was at her wits end with this boy, but I'm telling you a few minor tweaks here and there and 2 weeks of exercising patience and he is doing better than ever. PTL!!!

What happened?

We'll unfortunately Owen got a little stomach bug around the end of September and it freaked him out. He did not like the uncontrollable feeling he was getting and he was getting sore. So to combat that he decided to just NOT go...for days at a time. It got to the point where when he would go after sitting on the potty screaming for 20 minutes...he would bleed. It was this awful power struggle as well. We had also been disciplining Owen if he pooped in his pants, but we decided to ease up on that because we noticed that he was scarred to go in general. After making a call to his pedi we put him on Miralax to help move things along and make it not so painful. Wow...that stuff works! There were accidents, but I was just happy for him to get it out. He had been acting out of sorts for days and now we knew why. I can't imagine having all that stuff stuck inside of you would make you feel very good. Some of the other changes we made was bringing back out the little potty chair, reading tons of potty books and watching Elmo's Potty Time...over and over and over and of course tons of praise! :) He is a completely new kid now. We aren't giving him Miralax anymore and he's still doing great. He is now telling us he needs to go pee and poo and he's so excited to go potty in his little potty. He loves getting a chocolate too! In fact now he's going poo almost every time he needs to go potty. I know this may sound funny if you're not a parent, but this is such an accomplishment in a little guys life.

We are so proud of you Owen!!!

Hmmmmm...

Do you think he knows something about the playroom that I don't know?

Personal Jungle Gym

Every night we head upstairs to hang out in our master bedroom for the last hour the boys are awake. It's been a part of our nighttime routine for a long time. It's nice to have a change of scenery when the boys are starting to get a little cranky. This is what I loving refer to as the "witching hour" for Jack. He is super clingy, usually crabby and just wants to climb all over me. If Daddy tries to take him so I can have a minute where I'm not being smothered by him, he freaks out. The other day instead of laying on my back and having Jack maul me, (which usually ends up with me getting an elbow or foot in the stomach...doesn't feel so good when you're pregnant) I decided to lay partially on my tummy to get comfortable. So instead of getting mauled I got sat on.

Thankfully it didn't hurt and Jack really enjoyed it.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Last year I roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time and I love them. This year I have been SO looking forward to this part of the pumpkin carving process. While I was gutting the pumpkins I was trying to save as many seeds as I could. They are so yummy...I can't believe I ever threw them away! I ended up having 4 cups of seeds from 2 pumpkins.

I first checked online, but then I just compiled info from a bunch of sites and then did my own thing. I rinsed the seeds to get all the gunk off them - dried them off with a paper towel - laid them out on a cookie sheet to dry overnight - boiled them with 1 tbsp of salt for 20 minutes - coat with a little bit of melted butter and 1 tsp of cayenne pepper - spread them out evenly on a cookie sheet and baked at 300 for 50 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes and checking for crispness.

All done and so yummy! I do wish I had added a little bit more cayenne pepper, but I didn't want to overdue it and end up not being able to enjoy them.

Backyard Update

Michael was so busy this summer working at this normal Monday - Friday job and then working on the weekends for his own business...he didn't have a lot of time to spend on the backyard. With that said last week we (more like I) decided that it would be good to get some work done since it wasn't raining.

Since the last time I've posted Michael fixed the bend in the wall (pain in the butt), put another row of blocks on and move fill dirt up next to the wall.

Here's the back side....nice and straight!

Our piles of rocks and dirt are slowly dwindling.


Michael moved wheelbarrow full after wheelbarrow full of dirt during this work session.

Good helper!

I wanna be just like Daddy, but this shovel is HEAVY!!!

All that work to fill one corner of the yard with dirt! Exhausting! We severely under estimated how much dirt we would need for the yard so we will have to order some more. I'm thinking at least 20 yards. We started with only 5! We are hoping since the driver was able to come down the easement last time he might be able to angle a little and dump the dirt in the yard instead of on the pavement. Either way when we get the dirt we are definitely going to rent a bobcat to make the whole project much quicker and easier. Right now Michael is just putting some fill dirt in so he can get the next row of the wall up. We are thinking we will just need one more row of the blocks and then a row of capstones to finish it off. Work work work!

Getting Messy!

This year I have been so excited to carve pumpkins. I was really happy we got the little pumpkins for the boys too so they could paint them. I know you're probably all going to think I'm weird, but I've never let my kids play with paint yet so this was the first time...ever. I'm a freak when it comes to getting messy so it helped that Michael was home and he was there to clean up most of the mess and give the boys a bath afterwards. I must say...it was totally worth it (coming from the parent that didn't clean up very much) to see the look on their little faces.

Look at that cute pumpkin and the gourd is pretty cute too! ;)

Do you expect me to eat...this?

Ohhh...pretty colors!




Getting creative!

No Jack...the paint doesn't taste good.

For some reason painting pumpkins brings out my inner aviator!

Okay, okay...Daddy painted my pumpkin...whatever!

I don't believe you guys...I think it's soap...not paint!

See it's soap!

Carving time...I forgot that my stomach is sticking out quite a bit now so my shirt got a bunch of orange gunk on it....oops!

The results! Right before we lit the pumpkins Owen asked for them to be turned on. He hasn't seen a pumpkin lit nor have we talked about lighting the pumpkins at all this year. He is so smart to remember this from last year! He shocks me everyday with his memory.

Who's That On The Wall?

Jack Jack....what are you doing? Who do you see on the wall? Is that Ga-Ga? Where's Ga-Ga's picture?

Where? Can you show Mama?

Yeah that's your Ga-Ga!

There is NO doubt these boys love their Ga-Ga. Of course they love their Pa too...Jack just can't say Pa very well yet. They are both very lucky to have grandparents that are so invested in their lives and love them very much. Love you Ga-Ga & Pa!!!

What's For Dinner?

When I was pregnant with both boys I made a point to go to Dinner's Ready with my friend Kim and make a bunch of meals I could freeze and have ready after the baby was born. Most of the meals we ended up enjoying, but some were not so good. One of our favorites was this Blue Cheese Flank Steak in a Demi Glace. To. Die. For. Michael and I both enjoy a good steak so I decided to pick up a flank steak and some blue cheese and give it a whirl.

Tada!!! I didn't do a demi glace sauce because after looking it up online and not knowing what the first ingredient was...I chickened out. So I browsed the web and found this Marinated Flank Steak with Blue Cheese Sauce recipe from The Food Network. It was so super easy and it turned out wonderful! With dinner we had herb & butter Rice A Roni and Michael made green beans almondine. Heaven! Oh and you better believe I'll be heading back to Dinner's Ready to get a bunch of meals ready before Ella is born. You know me...I'm a tradition girl! ;)

Comparison

{Jack almost 17 months...Oct 2009}

Today Jack is exactly the same age Owen was when Jack was born. Owen was 10 days shy of being 17 months old. Such a baby still! It's funny when I think back to that time I don't remembering feeling that Owen was such a baby, but really he was. To me right now Jack seems younger than Owen did at the time he became a big brother. I think a lot of that has to do with knowing that the baby phase is gone SO quickly. Because honestly in many ways Jack is further advanced that Owen was at this age. I think that definitely has to do with being a second child and having an older sibling to look up to.

{Owen almost 17 months...June 2008}

Sometimes Things Don't End Well...

It started off sweet, sitting together and...

enjoying a drink too!

Owen had some alone time on the couch to play with his cars.


Then Jack decided it was time to come join Bubba again.

That's when it all went wrong!

Don't worry no toddlers were seriously hurt during this encounter!

Date Day

Today my parents came up to watch the boys for us so Michael and I could go have a date day. We did a little shopping and then headed to lunch at Famous Dave's. We've had the food before, but only carryout so this was our first time eating in. I love their ribs and their macaroni and cheese is the best. They had a wonderful lunch menu and it didn't end up costing any more than it would be to go to Red Robin, but the food was WAY better.

Michael got the lunch combo with ribs and beef brisket. All the lunch combos come with corn on the cob, one side (Michael got beans) and a corn bread muffin.

I got the ribs and roasted chicken and like I said before the best macaroni and cheese...EVER! It has corn and jalapenos in it....mmmmm!!!

After lunch we did a little more shopping at Old Navy and found new shirts for all the boys. Then we headed to the Seattle Children's Theater to see a play. No we weren't seeing a children's play we were seeing the second play we had tickets for at the Taproot Theater. Unfortunately the Taproot Theater was badly damaged during a fire just yesterday morning so they had to move the play to the Children's Theater. It totally amazes me that they were even able to get the play up and running at a different location in such a short time. There were a lot of great people that came together to make it happened. The play was fantastic of course and we are really looking forward to seeing more plays next year when the theater has been repaired.

Once the play was done I was wanting something sweet so we called my Dad to make sure they didn't have any plans and to see if they would mind watching the boys a little while longer. We figured that since we were already down in Seattle and had paid for parking we might as well just walk a little ways to The Melting Pot and enjoy some chocolate fondue.

Doesn't that look heavenly?


It was so nice to be out just the two of us enjoying adult things and getting to eat without ever having to pick up a crayon, silverware or sippy cups off the floor.

Of course by the end of the day I couldn't wait to get home to our boys, scoop them up in my arms and kiss them. It's amazing that just a few hours away and I'm missing them like crazy.

Visiting The Pumpkin Patch

On Tuesday morning my MOPS group had our first outing of the year...we headed down to Scholtz Farms in Orting. This is the same pumpkin patch we went to last year for my nephew Avery's birthday. My friends Kim and Carmen came with their kids and also a few other moms from our MOPS group showed up too.

In the wagon and ready to go!

I really love how Scholtz Farms is geared to the littler kids. The saw chip mound is so fun for them to run down and it's a nice soft landing if they end up falling.


Jack fell asleep in the car on the way down to the farm so he was a little scowly at first.

Owen liked seeing the turkeys because the one in the middle was fluffing it's feathers and throwing saw chips all over the place.


These baby lambs were born on the 12th. So cute!!!


I love the look on his face!

Time to go into the maze...

Jack got to ride most of the way, but Owen got to...

RUN!!!!

My turn to pull!

Andy says, "I know the way...follow me!"

Whoa...that's a lot of pumpkins to choose from.

Finding a pumpkin or eating an Oreo...which one do you think he enjoys better!

I think I see one Mama!

That's one heavy load!

Mama carrying 3 pumpkins and 3 kids!

Boys and their big toys! Vroom Vroom! Owen was very disappointed that the tractor didn't move though.

Purchasing our pumpkins...I ended up buy those two big ones and two small ones for the boys and it didn't even cost $10. I can't wait to make roasted pumpkin seeds. YUMMY!

Time to go to Ga-Ga & Pa's house!