Everything but the kitchen sink

This morning as I was getting Alyssa out of the car to take her into preschool I caught a glimpse of a white piece of paper in her bucket that I hadn't seen before. My heart sank as I read "Attention Parents ... " and then the note proceeded to instruct us that it was "things that go" week and requesting that each child bring a vehicle-type toy to preschool on Friday (today). Whoops! But then I realized what I was standing next to. My very own "has everything in it but the kitchen sink" backseat bonanza! A little bit of digging around and ta-da ... one toy train!

It seems like almost daily I curse the state of my backseat and its 12 inches of trash, clothes, toys, etc, but today it came in handy.

Reminded me of the time last summer that we met the Kleffmans/Kleffmen at McDonald's to learn that we had to provide socks for our kids to be able to play in the play place. A little digging around in the backseat and presto ... 2 pairs of socks!

My excuse ...

I guess it hasn't really been *that* long since I've blogged, but it feels like forever.

I blame the cult that is "Twilight" (and the rest of the series). I've become infatuated with the books, the movie, searching Youtube for film clips and the internet for interviews/news, etc. I think I need a 12 step program.

So that's my excuse. I blame Paula for insisting that she needed to overnight the first book to me after she read it. She's such a bad influence. ;)

Realization

I had a flooring guy come out today to do an estimate to have our wood floors sanded/refinished. As he was walking me through "the process" he mentioned that for 3 or 4 days we would have to stay off the floors for 8-10 hours while everything sealed. It was about then that I realized that every entrance (short of windows) in or out of our house connects directly to our wood floors. That makes things a little more challenging.

I have two thoughts:
1. I wonder if we could convince our insurance company that they needed to cover a hotel room for us for 4 days while the floors were finished. I could handle hanging out at CoCo Key for 4 days.
2. I wonder if my parents would still be speaking with us if we came to stay with them for 4 days.

Either way, I think we need to wait until the weather warms up before we do it so that regardless of where the kids and I end up we can spend time outside.

Happy 2nd Birthday Joel!

Just a quick birthday post ~ but I'm including pictures, so that makes up for the briefness. Poor Joel had to endure a shopping trip with Grandma, Alyssa, and mommy for most of his birthday, but we did have lunch at Carlos O'Kelly's where he got to have chips and salsa, chicken strips, pizza, and french fries. Does it really get better than that? Plus a drink with a STRAW! Our friends Eric, Angie, Lenka, Janika, and Chad came over tonight for Taco Bell (we must be pushing Mexican food on Joel) and birthday cupcakes that were made almost completely by Alyssa. I dumped the cake mix in the bowl, but she added all the ingredients and mixed it up. Then I frosted them, but she did all the sprinkles!

Yummy cupcakes!

Birthday loot

With one of his favorite presents - a remote control "Cars" Sherriff car. It was a riot watching him figure it out at first ... Adam was controling it and Joel kept trying to grab it, but always *just* missed it. I'm still not completely sure that he knows that he can decide where it goes, but he has a good time with it and that's all that matters. And I think its pretty sweet that Adam picked it out all by himself. If memory serves me correctly, he also gave our buddy Evan a remote control car when he turned two, which Evan's mommy didn't appreciate so much. This was before we were married, so I had no control over his gift giving habits. ;) Anyway, Joel, Alyssa, and Lenka loved chasing the car around and Janika seemed to think watching the "big kids" run around was a hoot.

Happy Birthday my sweet baby boy. I love you more than you'll ever know.

Stay tuned for party pictures after the big bash on Saturday!