Self-diagnosis

This morning Sammy told Jacob he had an ear infection. On and off all morning as we were getting ready he would complain that his ear hurt, so I gave him some Tylenol. At 9 am instead of taking him to preschool we went the Target Clinic (awesome, in case you were wondering!), and it turns out Sammy does have an ear infection. He's had one dose of Amoxicillin thus far and already seems to be feeling better.

Happy Birthday Sweet Hannah!

Pretty birthday girl!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

We had so much fun at your party and what a beautiful day it was! So glad you like the hat and scarf!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

More on flickr!

Happy Halloween!

Rod jack-o-lanterns, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Here are pictures of our professionally carved jack-o-lanterns -- by Jacob! Aren't they so great?!

Caving, and going political...

If you somehow missed the Obama primetime infomercial, you should check it out HERE It is the first time in 16 years a presidential candidate has done something like this. I think it was fabulous. He paid nearly $4-5 million on this, 30 minutes, over seven networks... and he's only used privately raised money. And he's making BIG RELEVANT arguments.

Also, if you are wondering how the Obama Tax Cut will (or won't effect) you, go to barackobama.com and see for yourself... worth looking into.

Pumpkin carving

The start, around 6:50 pm.


At 8:46pm Jacob is still working on this jack-o-lantern, so final pictures will be upload tomorrow (maybe!).

ETA: ack! red eye! sorry.

More trick-or-treating pictures

This afternoon the boys and I met Leah, Cal and Ike at Kowalski's (a local grocery store chain) for some trick-or-treating. The store handed out some great snacks - apples, juice boxes, cheese sticks, strawberry milk, yogurt, Cheetos and mini-Pepsi products. After trick-or-treating we sat outside and the kids basically ate/drank their way through the loot.



A classic preschool smile.


A skuffle over a mini-shopping cart


All the boys (I'm hoping Leah's picture came out better!)


Cal and Sammy

"Pop"

Freddie's new favorite thing is lolipops. We keep a treat bag on top of the fridge and he'll look up and ask, "Pop?" His favorites are DumDums, I think because he likes to take off the wrappers.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ike!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Isaac's second birthday at Choo Choo Bob's last Saturday.

Here is a picture of the birthday boy:

Sorry for the crummy fuzzy photo... off to look through the album and upload to flickr. I hope there are some better ones! (Leah has good pictures on her blog - check out Miller Time if you get a chance!)

In other birthday news, today is Freddie's half birthday!

Mega Blok House

For my mom friends. :)

I've been lurking through the Retro Housewife site lately (link at right) and I came across something that I thought I would share with you all, especially since it seems to come up frequently in our conversations. The full article can be found here.

The drive to bare children is so strong that it leads to all sorts of peculiar behavior, huge expenditure and also grief when the blessed event does not occur. At some basic level every woman wants to get pregnant even if the circumstances are not convenient, or her brain is adamantly against it. We can't help it....we were made that way.

I mean, if you look at life rationally, and especially if you live in a country of opportunity for women, why oh why would one choose to forego your freedom, much of your financial resources, and any chance of sleeping in for at least 20 years to have and raise children? Wouldn't it be more fun to travel the world, eat cake, go to the movies when you want, become a plastic surgeon or just nap on the beach?

There is really nothing rational about it, except for the fact that we need to do it, and that nature wants us to do it. The odds are completely stacked in the corner of the reproduction god. It would actually be better if certain people abstained from having children; and by certain people I mean people who really don't want to raise children, or are really, really bad at raising them, or want children for all the wrong reasons. ...

The manly way to ride a princess bike.

Sammy on Vica's princess bike., originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

With skulls and crossbones and a Yankees cap, of course. Sammy had so much fun riding Vica's bike for about an hour at playgroup last Thursday. Thanks to Vica for such awesome sharing!

Kaia and Freddie

Freddie vs. Kaia, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Just cause it's funny.

Jacob asked me why it was funny this morning so I thought I should clarify - Freddie and Kaia are a mere six weeks apart in age.

Pictures from the Pumpkin Patch.

The fam, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Lots more for ya on Flickr. :)

Putting the boys to work.

more raking by Freddie, originally uploaded by sweetietooth.

Raking. It was raining most of the day yesterday, but when it let up the boys and I went outside to fill big pumpkin trash bags with just *some* of the leaves decorating our front yard. Freddie held the big rake and Sammy used his little yellow rake to collect enough (wet) leaves to jump in.

Boo at the Zoo

The fam traveled to Duluth to see Cody and Ashley and go to Boo at the Zoo this past weekend. It was a great test-run of the boys in their costumes, and overall fun way to kick off our Halloween festivities. Just Ashley and I took the boys, as Cody was suffering from a aching back and J hung around offering moral support by watching college football at his side (we left after the UT/OU game in case anyone was wondering).

The boys had so much fun trick-or-treating and checking out the animals. We saw kangaroos (super weird), a polar bear, a tiger, monkeys, and lots of other critters I'm forgetting at the moment. Sammy enjoyed yelling "trick or treat!" as loud as he could at each booth, and Freddie enjoyed about 8 lolipops and the huge rain puddles along the trail. By the end of the event Freddie was a muddy mess and I basically had to strip him down before putting him in J's new car. I had to wash the entire chicken suit and his shoes.









Thanks to Codes-n-Ash for having us! I wish I'd taken pictures of their house all decorated for Halloween - it was very impressive and festive. I loved it! And the boys especially enjoyed the special Halloween cupcakes Ashley made for them, complete with skeltons, holiday sprinkles, ghosts and their initials. yummmm....

More pictures in the Duluth set on Flickr. CLICK HERE

Push!

Sammy pushing Freddie in the car:


Freddie pushing the car:

Jump!

Sammy is becoming more and more daring in his physical feats!

Picture day!

Here is what Sammy wore for his school pictures yesterday.


And here are Sammy and Freddie, smooshing each other again (ie fighting over the red chair, in a friendly way):


And Mr. I Have The Chair to Myself

Bed head.

Just a funny pic of Sammy from Tuesday morning. He got a hair cut Wednesday afternoon (Thurs was picture day at school).