Happy Birthday Dad, Grumpy, and Bumpy!

I just wanted to do a posting for my dad and tell him Happy Birthday! I know its late but I was out of town last week. I want to thank my dad for all that he has done for me in the past and present. He has always been there for me and my sister as a great dad and he has often times had to be the mom to. Not many dads would go to the store and buy things for their daughters that he had to go and buy. I am so glad that I got you as my dad and that my kids have you as their Grumpy and Bumpy. They both love you so much and get so excited to come and see you. Here are 10 things we love about you!

1. You are always Happy
2. You are always supportive of the kids, Mark, and I.
3. You are an awesome cook
4. You are thoughtful
5. You are forgiving and loving
6. You taught me to be good at sports
7. You make my kids happy
8. You always call me on Mondays
9. You dress good
10. You are very thoughtful

Dad I love you and I appreciate all you have done and do for me. You are the best dad and mom ever! (I hope you don't take that the wrong way)

Halloween

I thought I would post some pictures from Halloween of the kids. Oh but wait, I don't have a camera anymore. Thankfully other people took pictures for me to post. I did however buy a disposable camera so once those are developed we can add those as well once we scan them.

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. We went to four Halloween Parties. The first one was at my aunt Linda's. We ate yummy Taco Soup and lots of treats. Ashlyn carved her first Pumpkin all by herself. She is very good at that stuff. We played some fun games that brought me back to my childhood as well. We even got to meet a lesbian with big boobs. It was quite the night.

Then the next day we went to my dads house for a party. We carved pumpkins there as well but this time I ended up carving the Pumpkin because Ashlyn wanted to play. Most of the pictures that are posted are from my dads.

The next party we went to was to the Holley's. They rearranged the party so that we could make it to this one. They were going to have it on Saturday and at the last minute changed it so we could all be there. We made homemade donuts, played games, and watched the kids dance for an hour. Ashlyn led the brigade in her dancing tactics and it was quite the show.

The last party we went to was at Marks Grandma's rest home. They had a fun party with a balloon guy, limbo, fishing for a prize, tattoos, and a coloring table. Josh won the costume contest there four kids that one and he definitely got the loudest cheer. His costume in the pictures above got dirty so I pulled out the Peter Pan costume. He looked so cute with it on. I will post those as soon as they are developed. After all the festivities they had trick or treating. Josh and Ash really enjoyed it and they came out with a lot of candy.

Then there was Halloween Day and Night. Josh and I went to Ashlyn's school parade (I can't believe they still do those) and then afterwards I helped out in her class for the class party. Everyone sit for this. They had like six activity stations and I was the reading station. I read a Halloween story to the kids and it was really fun. I met all of the kids Ashlyn talks about and got to know them a little. It was a lot of fun.

That Night I made homemade chili and put it in bread bowls that were colored orange with a green stem so they looked like pumpkins. We had that and donuts. I have to say I make some delicious chili. I then took the kids trick or treating while Mark handed out candy. Josh was a trooper and walked for about 45 minutes and then pooped out. I think Ash for the first time could have gone all night and did not tire. They made out with way too much candy and I will probably end up throwing most of it out but it was very fun. The end.

"You Look Like A Boy."

Last night I was on my face book account and a really old friend had requested me to be friends with her. I accepted and looked at her account. Anna is her name and we were best friends growing up until I moved away after 4th grade. Anna was a good friend and her mom and sisters took good care of me and my sister when my mom past away. My favorite times spent with her were at her pool and cabin.

Anyhow I found these old class pictures and could not help but post them for all to see. My 1st grade picture there is no excuse as to why I look so bad. I had a mom and I just am not sure what she was thinking on that one. The 4th grade picture is right after my mom died and let's just face the facts. My dad did a great job with us. He cooked, he cleaned, he picked out cute clothes for us, but he did not do hair. As far as Michelle is concerned she attempted to help but I was not the best of sitting still so there you have it. I did my own hair and the results are far from stunning.

So this morning I showed Ashlyn my pictures and said do you want to see mom when she was your age? She looked at the picture and said " You look like a boy mom." She then covered her mouth because she felt bad for saying it but she was only speaking the truth. Mark agrees with Ashlyn and said those pictures don't look like me at all and that if there were not names written on there he would have guessed I was someone else. At least they are honest.

Joshy's 2nd Birthday

On Friday we celebrated our little mans birthday. He was so excited to have everyone sing to him. He sang happy Birthday to himself all day and pretended to blow the candles out each time. He definitely got in a lot of practice before the big one with everyone there.

We invited Mark's family over for the party because my dad does a separate at his house for the grand kids. We had Pork sandwiches, chips, and salad for dinner. After dinner we sang to Josh and he blew his candles out for real this time. He was pretty happy about that. He opened presents as well and love each and every one of them. He got a big helicopter, new train and tracks, a Caterpillar bulldozer, and some clothes.

On Sunday we went to my dads and celebrated again and he was again as pleased as could be to be sang to. This time he blew the candles out about 5 seconds into the song. My dad and Connie gave him a big fire engine and he loved it. He has not let it out of his sight since he got it. No one is aloud to touch it and it must go in the car with us even though it way to big for his lap.

Overall Josh had a great birthday and I can't believe I had him 2 years ago. He has grown so much. He talks a ton and is such a sweet thing for the most part. He has however started the terrible two's and it came on suddenly. We love him nonetheless. So Happy Birthday Josh.

Oh by the way we lost our camera so we had to take pictures with Marks Blackberry. Hence the low quality pictures. I sure hope we find the camera!

Cream of Wheat

I know my last post was about Cereal but this one deserves a post as well. Yesterday I was getting Ash ready for school and I was asking her what she wanted for breakfast. She usually just ignores me and does not tell me what she wants. I have to press her several times for an answer. She did the same when I asked her this time.

I got her dressed and we headed down stairs. I was just about to ask her what she wanted when she said to me. "My tummy is cold" I was like okay well your dressed so it will warm up. I then realized she was telling me in her nonchalant
way that she wanted something warm for breakfast. So I played along. I said oh do you want some hot water to eat for breakfast to warm your tummy. She smiled and laughed. I said oh you want Cream of Wheat for breakfast. She was like yes that is perfect to warm my tummy.

I was thinking how it would have been easier to just say can I have some Cream of Wheat for breakfast but she likes to play games and has done this several times in her life. She is learning to be manipulative like me and I can see right through it at least for now I can.

Marsh Mellows VS Frosted Oates

Today I needed my son to be quiet while I called some accounts for my boss. Ashlyn was at school so I just had to make sure Josh was entertained for about 1 hour. I got out all the toys I hate him playing with because they are so messy. I let him have whatever the heck he wanted basically.

Twenty minutes into calling these accounts I was like wow Josh is super quiet and being really good. I then looked across the room to notice he had gotten a brand new box of Lucky Charms out that had just been opened this morning. He had managed to dump the entire box of them out and was chowing away. Mind you he had had a bowl of them for breakfast already and also some toast and a banana. Anyhow I was like whatever its all dumped out now and he is being good. I will worry about that later.

So about 30 minutes later I had finished calling the accounts and I got up to clean up the cereal. I then noticed that he had managed to eat all of the marsh mellows out of the entire box. Not leaving one marsh mellow and I am not exaggerating here. I was under the impression that the frosted oats tasted just as good. I was sorely mistaken today. Anyhow if there is anyone out there that likes the frosted Oates and not the marsh mellows I have a whole container full of them marsh mellows excluded.

Does it get better than this?

In the past I have written about things Josh likes to do and how he likes to stick things in cupboards and in my flour containers. Well today took the cake for things he has done. The kid is a nut job and has quite the funny personality. If I were to see myself at his age and maybe my dad can confirm I would say Josh is exactly like I was at the age of two.

This morning I went to pour some milk for Josh in his bottle. I know I know he is getting too old but he loves his bottle. As I poured it chunks of ice came out in the bottle and I was like well I guess the fridge is to cold so I turned it up. After he was done drinking his bottle there were still the ice chunks in there and I thought nothing of it. About an hour later I went to pour some milk into Ashlyns cereal and again white chunks of ice came out.... or so I thought. As I looked closer I realized it was not ice.

Yesterday some time around 11:30 Josh had some marsh mellows. I thought he had eaten them all. Well apparently not. He somehow managed to get the milk out of the fridge and dump a bunch of marsh mellows in the the milk carton. I figured oh well it will just make the milk have more flavor. Well it did not end there.

I went to pour some more milk this afternoon and low and behold I see a fruit loop floating at the top. At this point I decided to drain all of the milk to get the marsh mellows out and the fruit loop. I then found a receipt as well floating in there. I also managed to find a fork at the bottom of the carton. I wonder how that found its way in there. So as you can see my son is a little turd but I love him and find it too funny to be mad at the kid.