Go, Go, Goers!

Our two dogs are always around.  And I'm not saying that to be ungrateful...it's just that they are always underfoot, especially when there is food in the vicinity.  I know we've got limited time with Darla (she's 13.5 years old) and Lucky has hit the 10-year mark, so I try to appreciate everyday with them.  Even when they create walking hazards when trying to get somewhere in our house. But, one of the things that I love most about them (after the unconditional love and snuggles) is the fact that they are each a personal vacuum.  G is now self-feeding, which means half of it ends up in his mouth, and half ends up anywhere else.  Lucky can usually be found sitting at the base of his highchair, and as soon as we pull him out of the chair, her nose is on the seat, inhaling anything she can find.  Darla's not quite as quick anymore, but she can still vacuum up the crumbs that fall right in front of her nose.  I take this cleaning service for granted, bu...

G has been one cranky baby lately...crabby enough that his daycare provider contacted me on Tuesday to let me know what a tough day he had been having.  Very clingy, whiny, not eating the greatest...but no fever, so that was one positive!  I was a little worried to see how the rest of the week would go, but nothing else came of it.  He had much better days the rest of the week, but he does have a bit of a cold.  He's been sleeping so much lately, and when he's awake and happy, he's my little Gare-Bear; but when he's cranky, watch out - it's intense!  He's discovered how to screech really loudly, and stiffen his entire body when he doesn't want to do something.  Looks like we're moving into the wonderful years of having a toddler!  But, he is doing a great job of feeding himself, and is NOT happy when he sees jars of baby food.  He really wants to eat whatever we're eating, so that's making mealtime a bit different than in previous times.  Tod...

Last night, we (Ava and I - and Scott, in theory, but he was studying the back of his eyelids before the opening scene) watched the movie Maleficent .  I always thought that Sleeping Beauty was the princess that no one ever talked about (that was before the princesses became a SUPER BIG DEAL in recent years...and now Aurora is a household princess name.)  In any case, I was intrigued to see what the movie was about, and it's easy to use Ava as an excuse to watch anything princess-related. :) Turns out that the movie was about Maleficent (I know, shocking!) and how it's possible to be a hero and a villain, all at the same time.  But, mostly, it was about love, and how it can thaw even the coldest of hearts.  It got a little scary at times, and Ava started asking me a lot of questions about friends, and why friends do things to hurt each other.  Ava and I both stayed awake until the end of the movie (amazing for a variety of reasons) and it left both of us with ...

It was a good week.  A really good one. On Tuesday night, I had a chance to reconnect with an old friend, and get a really good pedicure, all at the same time.  Two birds, one stone, I say! On Wednesday night, we had Ava's 1st grade conferences, and really enjoyed hearing about how well she is doing in school.  It was fun hearing about the lessons they are learning, and also about all of the friends that Ava has made this year.  The best thing that I heard was that Ava's class has really melded together well, and Ava is great at playing with all different groups of people...yeah! And then on Thursday night, Scott took Ava to Gander Mountain to prep for deer opener this weekend, and I took G to get his first haircut.  It's pretty clear that the daddy-daughter combo had significantly less tears than the mommy-son one.  Although, the woman who cut G's hair said he did really well compared to other kids.  I do think he did better than Ava did at her fi...

I heard the phrase "no time to turn around" yesterday from Scott's mom, and I thought it was very applicable to this past week.  It was a fun week, but a really, really busy one! After dinner on Tuesday night, we decided to carve our pumpkins.  Ava, of course, wanted to pick out the most complicated design.  We settled on a few mid-range ones, with a standard Scott "creative one" to round out the bunch.  This year's bonus carving said "FREE BEER."  When I came outside this morning, I noticed that pumpkin was gone...apparently it's a free lunch to some animal, too.  On the other hand, my follow-the-directions pumpkin won the contest at our little party last week - hooray! Doesn't Ava look innocent? Ha! Scott's deranged squirrel (it's supposed to be a cat, and he went off-pattern...) Here's my content winner...! And then when that day was over, we woke up and had a one year old son to celebrate!  G turned one...