Today, I am thankful for... (day two)

Today I am thankful for coffee. We had a very, very long night last night. Alan is hunting with his brothers and his dad today, so he wanted to get to bed early so he could get up early. That left me with the end-of-night household stuff, so I didn't get to bed until almost 2300. Mason woke up twice to go to the bathroom. Alan unintentionally woke me up when he got up at oh-God-thirty, and then when he left at oh-God-thirty-six. Claire woke up complaining of teething pain.

So the short version is, mom is tired today and on her own. And I'm grateful for the coffee that will keep my tired headache to a minimum and enough caffeine that I can function.

Today, I am thankful for ... (day one)

I am totally taking material from my Facebook status to post on my blog. I'm that lame.

Let's see how many people can do this. Every day this month until Thanksgiving, think of one thing that you are thankful for and post it as your status. "Today I am thankful for..." Now if you think you can do it then repost this message as your status to invite others to take the thanksgiving challenge, then post what YOU are thankful for today.



Today, I am thankful for my wonderful neighbors. I was chatting with a neighbor from up the street while I was feeding Claire this morning. We got talking about our shared chocolate addiction, most specifically Snickers candy bars (my big craving of late). Well, while we were chatting, her husband attempted to doorbell ditch and leave a Snickers behind. I only saw him as he was backing out of the driveway because every time someone rings our doorbell, Mason and I have a mad race to get there. Mason does not understand discretion, screening, or security. Anyway, it was a sweet gesture from the two of them, even if I totally busted their anonymity. It made my day.

My neighbors are great. This kind of thing is not uncommon. I only know a handful of people around, but would be willing to help them anytime they need it, no questions asked. And the favor has been returned to me many times over. I was talking with my neighbor across the street recently about how we don't really want to move and leave this neighborhood, even if our family has other needs. Ideally, at that point we would want to somehow magically transport everyone with us.

I'll be back tomorrow! But if you would like to join me in this, either here or on Facebook, it would be fun to see everyone else counting their blessings. It'll be good for me to shake off some of the negativity I've been experiencing of late.

The Geek Gene

We have a dry erase board on the fridge for quick jotting needs. This includes writing down something to be picked up from the grocery store when we use the last of it. Alan used the last of the half and half. He wrote it down. (No complaints there!) And I giggled that my husband is such a geek. Then I realized I have nothing to laugh about because I understood the joke without thinking. And have likely passed these geeky genes on to our kids.

Budding Artiste

Mason and I played outside for a good long time today. Claire enjoyed it for a bit, too, but she had eaten herself sleepy (starting on solids has been very good for her) and went down for a long nap.


We built a "fire" by shuttling leaves from the trees in the park strip up to the yard... (ignore the dog hair, we also gave the dogs a good once-over with a brush)






But more importantly we played with sidewalk chalk. And Mason drew fire engines (and asked me to take pictures of them)...

...and he wrote his name. Maybe it's the gushy mama thing, but it's the first time he's written his name and, although not perfect or really even legible to the naked not-mom eye, I think it is such a good approximation. I'm so proud of him!

What's in a name?

Not Claire. So I just wanted to let y'all know I'm changing our name to reflect our new family status. I'm going to change it on Wednesday, November 4th. If you wish to keep following our insanity, please update your bookmarks, links, feeds, etc. to:

http://beefourwewerecrazy.blogspot.com/

I've thought a lot about this so if you don't find it amusing, don't tell me. I'm assuming the significance is obvious. I'm not sure if this will change my email address or not, so standby for further details. Happy reading!

The Halloween Index

A is for Alternatives. As an alternative to candy, Mason got some interesting stuff. One of our neighbors handed out coupons for a free Arby's roast beef sandwich. We're guessing they are the owner. He also got a purple straw with pumpkins on it. He loves this thing and must have it with every beverage.



B is for Boo'ed--we got Boo'ed twice (if only I was on top of things and had gotten the first sign out!) and felt like our neighbors love us. We were grateful to be included, even if the treats I put together didn't quite come out as planned.


C is for Chili. It's what's for dinner.


D is for Dad. He had the day off work. On a holiday. It was great!


E is for energy. Mason had it in spades. He was so excited to do everything.


F is for friends. Out trick-or-treating, we found a few to join up with.


G is for Grandma's 'hood. The first trick-or-treating stop we made.


H is for Hamburgler. It was my favorite costume that someone wore to work yesterday.


I is for Irritated. If you haven't taught your kids the rules of trick-or-treating and send them out, shame on you. There is nothing wrong with wishing someone a Happy Halloween or saying thank you for treats. If the porch light isn't on, don't go there. If I don't answer fast enough when you ring my doorbell even though my porch light isn't on, don't knock repeatedly. That is all.





J is for James; Mason was transformed into James and loved his costume.


K is for Kennels. Where the dogs spent their night barking at the doorbell. They don't like Halloween very much!




L is for Ladybug. We had a pretty sweet one at our house.


M is for MarioKart. It's what we did for family fun while we were answering the door to trick-or-treaters.


N is for Neighbors. Neighbors who share their candy with our excited kid and send their kids, in fun costumes, to our house to raid our candy supply.


O is for Outside. It was cold and dark, but I think Mason could've stayed out all night if it weren't for needing to go to the bathroom.






P is for Pumpkins. Alan spent hours carving these. The picture is a little hard to see. I'm still learning how to work the camera in the dark. Our choices are limited to either a little hard to see or impossible to make out.


Q is for Quick. The candy went quick this year!


R is for Rings. These and the...


S is for Stickers....were actually a huge hit with trick-or-treaters. I was fairly shocked. "S" also has to be for Snickers because it was the candy of the year in our neighborhood. Mason probably has the equivalent of a whole bag of them in his candy stash.


T is for Thomas. Mason had a Thomas jack o'lantern, and a Thomas treat bucket. You could say this is following the household theme.



U is for ugly. Some of my neighbors who are really into Halloween built a maze in their driveway. Their costumes were (intentionally) ugly and scary. Mason LOVED them and couldn't stop talking about it after he got home.



V is for Volume. Mason was going for volume with his candy haul. It might take us YEARS to eat as much candy as he got.



W is for Who the hell took our pumpkins? They aren't smashed; they are just gone. Whoever took one that was plainly for a little kid... you suck. I guess we'll have to bring them in next year.


X is for X-ray shirt. I know this isn't related to anything for us, but I thought it was awesome! (All right, I tried to go find the picture and come back to post it, but I can't find it. It was this amazing shirt a local girl made and sent a picture to our newspaper. She was pregnant, and it was like one of those black shirts with a white skeleton, but then she also made a skeleton baby over where her stomach was. It said she had her baby a couple weeks early and passed the shirt on to her sister. For some reason, I LOVED it.)


Y is for young 'ns. The only thing I enjoy about Halloween is watching the little kids (including my own) enjoy it.


Z is for ZZZZZ. What we all did when the sugar high finally wore off.