Thank you Auntie Chris!

Auntie Chris sent Braden and Olivia a little money for a Halloween treat. Braden immediately wanted to go to Starbucks. This just goes to show you that I had been going there (and taking my kiddos) way too often. Not only am I going in withdrawl trying to save money but apparently Braden is too! Ha!

We went to Starbucks before going to the zoo today. Braden picked out an organic vanilla milk and a bananna, chocolate-chip coffee cake. Olivia had water and a multi-grain roll and I had my usual - Grande Nonfat Latte Please!

It was great fun until we went into the bathroom for one of those emergency trips... "Mama I have to go potty!" We quickly picked up the table and ran into the bathroom. Olivia was innocently enjoying some of Braden's vanilla milk while we were busy. I was helping Braden, explaining why we don't touch public bathroom toilet seats and I turned around to the sound of spilling milk. She had poured all the rest of Braden's milk down the front of her clothes. Might I remind you that we were also on our way to the zoo! AHAHAHHH I cleaned her (and the Starbucks bathroom floor) up as best I could and we headed out.

It was actually a really fun little pit stop so thank you Auntie Chris. We talked about how lucky we were to get your cards in the mail and that you were the reason we got to eat and drink yummy treats!

A Day at Jacobus Park

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine outside today and bundled up to head to the park. It was Olivia's first time wearing mittens and she did great! She didn't try to take them off once which was nice to see. We wore our hats, mittens and warm coats.

Jacobus happens to be one of our favorite parks. Wauwatosa has wonderful places for the kids to play and many of the parks have or are surrounded by some sort of trail system. We played on the equipment for a while (we were the only ones there!) and then hiked around through the colorful trees. The leaves in some places came up to Olivia's knees but she tried her hardest to keep up with Braden. It was great to hear the crisp crunching beneath our feet and just smell the clean, fall air. We have so much fun when the three of us are outside together.

Our noses were pink by the time we got back and we were all feeling a little hungry so we sat down for a goldfish snack. After swinging for a short while and playing for a little longer we headed home and are now enjoying a great lunch. Hopefully I wore them out and they'll take great naps because I wore myself out and could use a nap too!

I love fall.

My Little Diva

Olivia is such a girl. She LOVES shoes! Maybe her auntie Em has already rubbed off on her. :) I am in the process of putting all of my summer shoes in the attic so they are in a laundry basket in the hallway. Tonight she decided to explore! She slid her chubby little feet into my heels and walked around the upstairs, "clip, clop, clip, clop." It was adorable. I think we're going to have our hands full someday. Not only does she love shoes but she adores necklaces, bracelets, hats, and clothes in general.

Love Dare

Steve and I have been reading this great book called, "Love Dare" recommended by our friends Heather and Brodie. It's a book that takes 40 days (or in our case a bit longer) to complete. Each night you read a short passage about an element of love and/or marriage and then there is a dare for the next day. The dare might be to not say anything negative to your spouse the next day or to call them out of the blue and ask if there is anything that you can do to help them out. When day is done (or when the dare is done which sometimes takes more than a day for us) there are some questions to help you reflect on what the dare was, how it made you feel, etc. I don't know that Steve writes anything down but I'm obviously a journaler so I do! :)

It's amazing what a little love and attention can do for a relationship. It's so easy to forget about "us" when the kids take most of our time and energy. The BIG things we used to enjoy doing together and for each other aren't possible anymore without painstaking effort to rearrange schedules, find babysitters and empty the bank account to pay for a fun night/trip and a babysitter! What this book has done for us is give us an excuse to refocus on each other and through little gestures, remind ourselves and each other why we fell in love. I am so thankful that I have a husband who will do things like this with me. I'm always finding new journeys I think we should take and he jumps on board willingly and whole heartedly.

My last dare was to list all of the things that I love about Steve on one sheet of paper. This paper represented a room in my brain that I visit when I think happily of him. Then I had to write down all the things I don't love about him which also represented a room in my brain which I sometimes visit too frequently. The book stated that as marriages progress people find themselves spending more and more time in the negative room and less and less time in the positive room and that we have to make a conscious effort to change that. It was very easy for me to write about all the things that I love and I found that the number of positives was three times as long as the negative list. A pleasant surprise for me. I didn't doubt that Steve is a wonderful person and that his list of positive characteristics out lasts many but I seem to find lots to get frustrated about or nit pick about. It was a good wake up call that I seem to fall back on the same arguments and I need to just let them go.

Anyway - my dare also asked that I pick one positive thing that I love about Steve and recognize him for it. I wanted to do that here. I wanted to share that love with everyone because he is such a wonderful man. One of the things I love most about Steve is what a kind heart he has. He shares it with me, he shares it with our children and he shares it with everyone he meets. Steve is warm - he wears his heart on the outside of his body and touches the world with it daily. Here are ten things he does that show his kind heart.

1. He constantly hugs and kisses Braden and Olivia
2. He is the first one to say good morning and to remind me to slow down for a kiss/hug goodnight
3. He has a hard time not giving to anyone who comes selling at our door or calls on the phone
4. He loves taking care of the earth: recycling, picking up trash he sees, saving energy, etc.
5. He calls and thinks of people when they are in need - he even sends cards - yes a man that sends cards!
6. He cries when we watch sad movies or we read about sad news
7. He has a hard time walking past a homeless or hungry person without helping him/her
8. He works until the wee hours in the morning to make sure he has done everything he needs to for all the people at work
9. He sends handwritten thank you's all on his own - no reminders from me!
10. He tells me he loves me every day - even on my most difficult days!!!

Steve - I love you honey. You are an amazing man and I am so lucky to be married to you.

Carving Pumpkins

I cannot remember the last time I carved a pumpkin. We had so much fun tonight I feel like a giddy little kid. I want everyone to come over and see our creations! They are nothing special but the magic that floods the air when you light a candle in them on a crisp, dark night is irreplaceable!

We had four pumpkins to carve - two small and two large. We set up the table, newspaper underneath, carving tools set to the side and began to dig in. Olivia was quite intrigued, Braden more disgusted than curious. He wanted NO part of "getting dirty." Steve and I jumped in and started pulling out the seeds and strings of pumpkin that squish between your hands. I have to admit the first handful does feel rather slimy but after that it's fun! Who doesn't like to get dirty - what child doesn't like to get dirty? We were baffled. I also thought Olivia might dive in but she wasn't sure what to do. She did try to carve with a small (dull!) knife and scoop out the guts with a pumpkin spoon but didn't reach her arm in as I had envisioned. Steve and I made up for their tentativeness.

Braden decided to fully participate when it was time to carve! He and Steve chanted, "in and out, in and out" as they pushed and pulled at the knife creating a "scary" face with "shark teeth." See if you can guess which one that is in the picture! :) Olivia and I made a ghost. We lit them right away in the kitchen and turned out the lights. WOW - darkness does wonders for our talents!

We took the jack-o-lanterns outside once we were all finished and got them arranged just perfect. I should probably mention that by this time Olivia was in bed, Braden looking at his catalogs again and the "we" that was making sure the pumpkins were perfect was just Steve and I! It was really fun; I can't believe we haven't done this before now. We didn't know what we were missing. We enticed Braden to come out and look at them with us which he did after I bribed him with trick or treating! Is that bad to use bribery every once and again? Hope not!

So all in all it was a really fun Friday night! I loved being able to be creative and no matter what you do - the result is always great when you light it up in the darkness. If you haven't already (and you obviously don't need kids as an excuse) I think everyone should go and get a pumpkin to carve. If for nothing else, to get the yummy pumpkin seeds that are in our oven roasting right now. What a fun time of year this is.

Christmas is Coming

The catalogs have started rolling in and before I have a chance to look through them Braden has staken his claim on the ones with toys! He looks through, sometimes browsing, other times circling all of the items he'd like for his birthday and Christmas. He asked me the other day if Christmas was close and I had to explain that first would come Halloween, then his birthday, then Thanksgiving, and finally Christmas.

I'm not exaggerating if I tell you that daily he shows me about 15 things he'd like to have. Part of me gets anxious when I hear all of these wants - I'd like to raise a child who is thankful for what we have. Other times I feel more at peace with this just being a phase. I said to him yesterday, "Braden you already have so many toys. I feel sad when you talk about all the toys you want to have because some children don't have any." He replied, "I don't want my old toys - I want all new ones." So that was the end of that. I thought it might be a perfect learning opportunity but I was hugely mistaken.

You can see from the pictures that Olivia has taken up the hobby as well. She loves to mimic whatever Braden does so I found her sitting on the couch, looking through catalogs and mumbling about what she'd like too. Steve and I were reminiscing about when the big SEARS catalog would arrive in the mail when we were young. We both talked of dreamily drifting through the pages looking item by item and picturing each thing under the tree on Christmas morning.

Maybe it's selfish - maybe it's a phase - or maybe a bit of both. Either way, it's fun to dream!

So You Think You Can Dance

A bunch of friends and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance tour last night. It was a blast. We started out with dinner at an Italian restaurant called Tutto. It was delicious - we had eggplant fries! Then we headed to the Bradley Center. We've gone now for the last three years and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. I couldn't believe how many people were there. The bummer of the evening was that Katie, my favorite female dancer, was injured so we only saw her dance one number. Also her partner for most of the show...was Josh (the winner). So that was disappointing but it was still a really great show. Thanks Ladies for a fun night out!