My Current Favorite Smile

Look Ma...no teeth!! ;) Yes, Matthew finally lost both of his front teeth and gives off quite a grin. And we just discovered he has three (!) more loose teeth. He won't be able to eat soon....

Rad Daddles!

We now own Guitar Hero II. Yeah, there's a shock, huh?!? Andy can't resist any new fun gamey stuff (and he managed to put off this purchase for quite some time!) and now Mason has discovered guitar hero is very cool. Hence, the video...... poor quality but moderately entertaining. ;)

By the way, "Rad Daddles" is the name of Andy's "band" on the game! Kinda cheesey but the kids helped pick out the name!

Hello Second Year Of Preschool!

Yes, Mason got his first day of school too! He was sooo ready to go back to school and his first day back went well. This full first week has been a little more trying (everyone seems tired!) but Mason is more then willing to be at his school and to do his work. In fact, the other day he was rather impatient for me to leave and just couldn't handle the fact that I was having a conversation with another mom. I believe his words were something like "Why do you have to kweep wistening to everything. I want you to go!" Yeah...I felt real special after that since he was pretty anxious for me to be out of his territory. I gotta admit though....it was kind of cute! ;)

Stop The Presses!

It is possible to have a successful dinner in the Crabby Amy household! I was sure it wasn't true....someone always wines, doesn't like what I have fixed,(ahem, Mason), doesn't like the texture(occasionally Matthew) or is upset that I have gone on strike for the evening and actually has to fend for himself (read: husband). But tonight, the stars (all four of them!) aligned. And all I was doing was using up stuff that was taking up space or was on the verge of going bad. Nothing special, just penne pasta that had been in the cupboard for awhile, Italian chicken sausage that had been in the freezer for awhile, and veg that was from the farmers market on Saturday. Which, by the way, the farmers market is full of bounty this time of year....get thee there very quickly and buy, buy, buy!! yum! But back to my eaten dinner, I just kinda threw it all together with a little half & half in the sausage and veg once it was cooked and that was the sauce to go with the penne. And my kids loved it! Mason asked for seconds and trust me, this never happens unless it's some kind of processed, non-naturally occurring in nature, sort of food. Andy loved it, (of course that could have been the wine talking ;)!) and I was very satisfied with my dinner. A very good end to a very trying day. (hence, why the wine was opened while I was cooking. I didn't add it to the food, more important to drink it!)

Holding On To Summer

Even though the calendar says September, the weather still says August and quite frankly, my mind couldn't agree more. This last weekend the weather was nothing short of glorious and for that I am very thankful as Andy and I decided to squeeze in a camping trip before summer was "really" over! So off we went to Detroit Lake, nothing terribly difficult as far as camping goes since this really was the first time Andy and I had taken both kids camping by ourselves! In fact, Mason has never been "real" camping and we had meant to do it all summer and just never got around to it. Better late then never!

The whole trip went really well and the boys, of course, had a blast!!

So...some highlights.....

* Duck-1 ----- Matthew-0

Andy took the boys fishing. Mason was excited but being four years old, lost interest quickly. I was actually surprised at how patient Matthew was with the whole experience. Unfortunately, I had already left the dock with Mason when "the incident" happened. Apparently, a duck decided to attack the bobber on Matthew's fishing line. Matthew didn't like that at all and decided to 'chase' the duck (how exactly he was doing this I am not sure, this was Andy telling me the story!) In the process of trying to chase off the duck, Matthew fell into the lake! Luckily he was at a point where it wasn't deep at all and an older gentleman happened to be walking right by him and pulled him out of the water. Matthew was mad (and I am sure Andy couldn't keep a straight face at this point!) but the other men on the dock informed him that in order to be a fisherman he had to fall in the water at some point! :) He did calm down and actually stayed for awhile longer and fished in his soaking wet clothes.

* Both boys think smores are the greatest dessert on the planet!

* Mason loved washing dishes and I discovered this is quite possibly the best way to get their hands clean!

* The weather was beautiful during the day but it was cold at night!! Both kids need warmer sleeping bags...

*Our only mishap with our camping gear was that we didn't completely check for all the pieces of the new stuff we had just gotten. We had just bought a new coffee maker and didn't discover that it was missing it's little glass percolator thingy until we were actually up camping. You do realize how vitally important coffee is when camping??!! (we shall be making a little return to the store!!)

* Now that we have a little confidence in our own stuff and camping experience, we can't wait to book some trips for next summer!!!

* Oh and my kids thought that freeze dried ice cream sandwiches rocked!

Hello Second Grade!

So we survived the first day. Actually, Matthew survived just fine....I on the other hand, am always a bit sad to see him off on the first day (and you would think I would be used to this by now!). I missed him during the day, however, I did not miss the brotherly fighting that had seemed to escalate over the last two weeks of summer. My boys needed to be separated, I needed my sanity, therefore, we all needed school to start. I rather like my logic! ;)

The day went well for Matthew, he enjoyed 2nd grade and liked his teacher (whew!). Several kids from his 1st grade class were in class with him and his locker partner is the same child that was his locker partner in kindergarten! I put a note for him in his lunch, which thrilled him, with promises of an after school treat...cupcakes of course! And since I ran out of time to make frosting, it was Nutella to the rescue! Not that Matthew complained one bit. ;)

Fire on the Mountain!

On Sunday night, Andy and I got to go out since the kids had an unexpected night with grandma and grandpa! So Andy decided that we should go to Fire on the Mountain since he had a gift certificate from his brother for that particular eatery. Oh my. Can I just say YUM!! I had no clue what this place served but it was all about wings!! Oh man they put to shame any kind of buffalo wings one has ever had at a chain restaurant...hot and spicy and lots of them. I actually ended up getting a chicken sandwich that was made with the spicy peanut sauce (which I could only eat about half since it was huge and I had a few of Andy's wings!). Andy had a big ol' plate of wings with 3 different sauces (spicy peanut, Jamaican jerk, and a third that was beyond too hot for me and at the moment I can't remember which one it was). So amazingly good! The restaurant is set up like Laughing Planet so if you eat there, the idea is the same....you order at the counter and then find a table (good luck!). We went to the Burnside location and it's not real big and got crowded fast but it was so worth it. Oh, and for dessert....fried Twinkies!! ;)