Happy Birthday to me...

Friday was my birthday, and it turned out to be a great one despite what I woke up to. Paul had used the bathroom in the middle of the night and forgotten to lift up the toilet cover (I'm talking the solid top cover of the toilet!). I began my day in a cleaning frenzy, carefully scrubbing everything in the bathroom! Why is it so hard for boys to keep a bathroom clean????

James and I went out to Tucanos, a very tasty Brazilian Grill, and it was sooo nice of Luke and Andrea to babysit our kids while we went! They are babysitters extraordinaire, and our kids were very entertained by making their own pizza, eating Muddy Buddies, jumping on their mini trampoline, making birthday cards, and watching movies. Speaking of birthday cards, Jackson made me a nice birthday card with a ghost on it and was so excited to hand it to me. He proudly pointed out the fact that the ghost was anatomically correct by exclaiming "Look, the ghost has a wiener!", very matter-of-fact like! James and I were so embarrassed! I guess it's a five year old thing? At least he wasn't in Kindergarten when he drew that!

To my great surprise, James got me exactly what I have been wanting: the meat grinder and pasta attachments for my Bosch. (You have to have the meat grinder to make pasta, I doubt I will actually use if for grinding up my own meat!) We made homemade tomato pasta on Saturday, and it was awesome. James even liked using the machine to make the pasta, despite the fact that he has made fun of my Bosch ever since I bought it! I think he is finally realizing how cool it is, and I can feel some budding enthusiasm from him!

Saturday night, Maryann invited some of our friends to go out to Zuppas for dinner to celebrate, and it was a blast. I was laughing so hard that I cried - but I won't share those funny stories on my blog! I am lucky to have such good friends who share the same interests. I feel so blessed to enjoy good health, a wonderful husband, adorable children, and a very supportive and loving extended family. It seems like life just keeps getting better and I can't be too unhappy about being one year older!

My Little Busy "Buddy"...

If you ever want to know some one's name or where they are, ask Paul. He keeps tabs on everyone - even people he has only heard about. Last week he gave James a sticker and told him to give it to his co-worker Eric ( and James promised, so he had to do it!). He must have been listening to our conversations we have each evening when James gets home from work! Who knew. Paul has never met any of James's co-workers, but he knows them by name. At the bus stop, Paul knows all of the kids' names and will ask me why one missed the bus, or where they all live. I have a couple of friend's named Tammy, and a couple named Amy. He will ask if we are going to Tammy Fontana's house, or Tammy Brooksbys's house etc. He has to carry his backpack to the bus stop just like Jackson, do homework just like Jackson, and recite patterns in the car (non stop) like Jackson! Alanna loves to do everything her brothers do too. I'm soooo looking forward to when she talks more and can ask me a million repetitive questions like both of her brothers too! :)

More than Meets the Eye...

Jackson has been obsessed with Transformers for a while now. He's got a Transformers backpack, wallet, toys, and I was relieved that he didn't want to be one for Halloween (how would I turn him into a Transformer?)! Anyway, this morning, he said "Sarah, if Optimus Prime went to church, we would have to call him Brother Prime. His first name is Optimus, and his last name is Prime." It's so funny to learn of the thought processes our kids have! Jackson amazes us with his intelligence , and he really is "more than meets the eye"!

Celebrating 33 Years!!!!

J-dog's birthday was this past week, and I can't believe I am married to a 33 year old! Time just flies when you are having so much fun :) His parent's were in town, so last Saturday we had a combined birthday celebration for James and his dad. We started off by going to Buca di Beppo, a really fun Italian restaurant. We sat at a huge round table with the Pope's head in the middle (encased in glass), as the centerpiece. The bathrooms are especially entertaining as they are adorned with old magazine clippings like this one about what to do when "Someone Has Soiled the Air!" (I should have turned my flash off, but you get the idea!) I had fun taking pictures of all of the frames in the girl's bathroom so I could share them with James.


The restaurant is also filled with Italian artwork like this statue of the little boy relieving himself. This picture of our boys is a bit embarrassing, but all I asked them to do was to stand by the statue for a picture. They did the imitation all on their own!

After lunch, we went to James's sister's house for
cake and presents. James got his favorite - ice cream cake! He has been quite traumatized from a childhood incident when his mom refused to buy him a "Head" brand school bag, and instead bought him a cheaper version which had a "Flash" emblem across it. James said he was made fun of incessantly for carrying the "Flash" bag, and consequently, he says our kids are going to have whatever backpack, shoes clothes, etc. that they deem as being the cool thing to have! Anyway, I suggested to his parent's that they get him a Head bag for work, since his current Lockheed Martin bag has seen better days. They continued the joke and wrote "Flash" across the new bag. James got a kick out of it!

Melissa gave James back his much loved sock monkey that his Aunt Maurine made for him when he was a baby. He had made a Marionette puppet out of it, and Melissa found it in a box and presented it to James along with a new sock monkey. Our kids have become very attached to cuddling and playing with the sock monkeys now. It's a good thing there are two of them! It's so fun to live close to both sides of the family now and get to spend special days like this with them!

Week of Halloween Festivities...

What a BUSY week! We had a ward playgroup party on Wednesday morning where we played some really fun games and passed out candy. Then Paul had his preschool party where they made "Witches Stew" out of: ghost belly buttons (marshmallows), dried up chicken legs (stick pretzels) ,rat eyeballs (whoppers), Dragon Hearts (Nips), gummy worms, wrinkly beetles (raisins), and you get the idea! Goblin juice (Capri Sun) was also served, and one preschooler was adamantly opposed to having the stuff anywhere near him. His mom said he actually loves Capri Sun, but the term "Goblin Juice" must have really grossed him out! Jackson had a costume parade at school on Friday, and then different centers with Halloween games. Then, he attended Preston's costume Birthday party that afternoon. At each of these activities, my kids consumed more candy than they normally do in an entire week! My mom had also stopped by with a huge canister of Nerds for each of the boys as her Halloween treat to them! Paul was literally on his bouncy ball bouncing off the walls!
Grandpa Joe and Grandma Leslie joined us for Trick-or-Treating since they were in town this year. Jackson was a knight, and Paul was a cute little monkey. Paul said to me "Sarah, everyone LOVES my monkey costume! I am such a cute monkey!" Our neighborhood goes all out with a few haunted houses, spooky decorations, and one house even set up an outdoor movie screen with popcorn and treats. The boys were so excited to get home and eat their candy, that they were done after a couple of streets! They really enjoyed passing out candy for Trick-or-Treaters though. Paul would hold the bowl out and say "Please help yourself". Every time the doorbell rang, all three of the kids would run down the hallway screaming towards the front door.
It seemed like Alanna totally got Halloween this year. She snatched this Tootsie Pop from our house before we even began, and she continued to try to snatch candy from her bucket while we were Trick-or-Treating. Of course, she dressed as Tinkerbell with warm layers on. I have to say we really lucked out with the weather this year - it was unseasonably warm and perfect for being outside!