I'm Another Year Older

This week I turned 35! Holy cow! 35!! Normally every year I get a little depressed about my birthday. Nothing major- just a little down. I think wow another year gone and I'm getting older and start searching in the mirror for signs of aging. However, this year I didn't do that for some reason. I am not exactly sure why. Maybe its because I am getting older and I forgot to freak out ;)....or maybe I have other stuff on my mind lately....or maybe its because I am really happy with where I am right now. I have a great life. I have a wonderful husband and three really terrific boys!! Not to mention some really great friends. I have a house to live in, food on the table and clothes to wear. Not too shabby.

I had a really nice birthday too. I got to celebrate it three times...as three times is always better right? :) For my first celebration-Matt's parents made me my favorite dinner of shrimp curry and then cream cheese cupcakes for dessert. I was in food heaven!! After stuffing ourselves silly, I got to open presents while enjoying a glass of wine. We played a game of UNO with the boys. The boys got bored of that pretty quickly (which was odd because usually they are UNO maniacs) so us adults played dominos. It was a really great evening!! Except I forgot my camera that night! So I don't have any pictures to post for that evening. :(

For the second celebration, we went out to eat at Old Chicago with my parents. Its one of my favorite pizza places. It was another nice evening.


For my third and final celebration, I spent my actual birthday evening with Matt and the boys. I decided after eating out the two previous nights that take out sounded WONDERFUL! :) I wouldn't have to cook and still get delicious food. I chose to get food from Paradise Bakery and Cafe. I LOVE their fire roasted tomato soup and California turkey sandwich. So Matt and I got our food from there, Alex and Zach chose Burger King and Josh, as usual, chose Jimmy Johns. He is in love with Jimmy Johns. He would eat there everyday if I let him.

For dessert we all got Coldstone ice cream (another of my favorites). Matt was sweet and put a candle in mine so I could make a wish.

After dinner I got to open presents....with help of course.

Then Josh started a wrapping paper war....thanks again for teaching them that, Larry! ;)

It was a really great evening. Nice and relaxed with a little bit of crazy thrown in. Perfect!

Of course I wanted a picture with my boys. But that is not as easy as it sounds. Someone was either not looking or making a funny face.

So....if you can't beat them....join 'em!

Here is my great family on my 35th birthday:

Chores and Prizes

Matt and I have decided that we are going to try and teach the boys a little more about money. Like how to save it and/or spend it. A while ago the boys discovered the crane game and bubblegum machines. Now every time we walk by one its "Mom! Can I have a quarter?!?!" Needless to say, I quickly ran out of quarters. I thought that this could be a good learning opportunity! Matt and I have discussed should we give them an allowance each week or make them earn money. We have been brainstorming and haven't quite worked out our system yet. There are chores that we feel they need to do no matter what -like pick up their toys or make their beds. So right now our system is to give them extra things to do to earn money. Their first chore was to help rake and pick up leaves. I am not sure this ended up being a chore....as Matt and I LOVED the help and the boys had a blast!!


(Josh is in orange. Alex is in black. Zach is in stripes.)

It was a lot of fun....and like I said it was nice to have the extra hands to help. Another chore we thought of was to help shred our paper. Seems silly, but again they loved it.

I hope our ideas keep coming. The boys are asking for chores to do. I am running out of ideas and money. :) But I am thankful that they are asking to help!! Today I need to clean the house. I may just put dust rags and brooms in their hands to help! I better check my wallet first. I don't know that they will comprehend an IOU yet. :)

Last week the boys had their parent teacher conferences. I have to say I am one PROUD mama!! All three of them got REALLY great reports. In the past they have always gotten a good report. Nothing to complain about. But this year all three were FANTASTIC! I am about to gush and brag so gag alert! :) Alex's teacher went on and on about how kind and loving Alex is. How he is considerate of others and has a big and kind heart! Zach's teacher talked about how kind and inquisitive Zach is. And that he loves to help out. Josh's teacher said how Josh is doing a great job. That he not only likes to try new things but will encourage others to do so too. Then she told me that Josh has gotten in trouble once or twice for talking to his friends too much. My jaw HIT the floor. Anyone who knows Josh knows that is AWESOME!! I feel Josh may be coming out of his shell a little bit and isn't quite so timid!! I was over the moon!! Matt and I are very proud parents and wanted to do something special for the boys. So we decided to take them to a toy store and let them pick out a toy. Nothing major- just a little something.

Josh picked out a spinning art thing.

He LOVES it! The problem was there wasn't much paint in those little bottles so he went though that pretty quickly. Luckily, washable paint works just fine. He is spinning art like crazy- and has even let his brothers try a time or two.

Alex chose Spongebob Walke-Talkes.

Another great hit.

Zach chose this matchbox car spin track.

He loves that too! I have to admit that its pretty cool. Its fun making the cars flip around twice then jump through the hoop of fire. :)

Halloween: Part 2

The boys got to choose their own costumes again this year. Zach chose to be Luigi, a character from Mario Cart. Josh chose to be Toad, another character from Mario Cart. Alex chose to be Spiderman. They were awesome! I LOVE the mustache on Zach. It made me giggle every time I would look at him!
To continue with our Halloween festivities....Friday was an exciting and eventful day for us! The boys had their Halloween parties at preschool. This year I got to hang out with Josh at his party. It was lots of fun!
All the kids- well all of them but one- she didn't want to wear her costume....anyway all the kids got into their costumes and were ready for the festivities to begin! They began with a costume parade throughout the school. I loved that!! Is there anything cuter than kids in costumes?!? Plus I got to see Zach and Alex for a minute or two as well. When the parade was over, they got a sheet of games to play and then got to choose which game to play. The only rule was that they had to go to each game station.

Josh chose to bowl first. That wasn't a surprise to me at all! He loves to bowl!Then he did a bean-bag toss...

a penny toss....

fishing for prizes...

we played Halloween memory...

and stick the nose on the Jack-O-Lantern. That was his favorite game. We spent a lot of time at that station! He thought it was hilarious to stick the nose in the wrong place.
When the kids got done with all of their stations, they got to pick a prize out of the pumpkin.
Then it was time for treats. They enjoyed eating cookies with their friends. Us mom helpers got to enjoy cookies too!
After the preschool party, we got ready to go to Matt's work. Matt's work has a trick or treating event for the families of the employees. Its pretty cool. The boys get to walk around to each cubical to trick or treat.

They love it and the people are very generous as the boys came home with a TON of candy!! In fact, as we were finishing up Josh and Zach were asking for help carrying their loot! :) Then we rushed home to get ready for my parents to come over for dinner. They wanted to see the boys in their costumes, so I invited them over.
We carved pumpkins together.



Our finished pumpkins!

As we were putting the finishing touches on our jack o lanterns, we roasted pumpkin seeds.
I think we all had a nice time. It was nice that my parents were able to come hang out with us for an evening.

Saturday was Halloween! The day began with Josh running a fever! UGH!! That dreaded fever showed its ugly face again!! So poor Josh slept on the couch most of the day. We weren't sure if he was going to be up for trick or treating. That evening I made mummy pizzas for dinner. They didn't turn out exactly like I thought they would, but they tasted good.

After dinner, my aunt and uncle came over. We didn't recognize them at first! It was awesome!! I couldn't understand why the big kids came out so early!! Here it was my aunt and uncle coming to wish us a Happy Halloween! It was pretty funny!

The Johnson's also came over to join us. I stayed behind to pass out candy and everyone else left for candy. There weren't a lot of trick or treaters this year. I am not sure why. The weather was great. Maybe since it was on a Saturday there were a lot of other parties to go to?? Who knows! Oh well. It was still fun to pass out candy.

The kids had a great time going out in the neighborhood together. Josh didn't last long. They dropped him off with me, then headed back out. Josh didn't eat any candy at all! Poor guy! Luckily, this morning Josh woke up fever free and has been acting like his normal self all day. I am not sure what that was about, but am happy that it seems to have passed. Overall, I would say we had a nice Halloween!! Hope yours was good too!