Little Mischievous At Naptime

I have to share this because it gave me a good laugh. I put Emmaline down for a nap this afternoon, and while I thought she was sleeping she wasn't. She had other plans for nap time. She wanted to play the role of Little Mischievous! Sometimes Em will get up after I put her down for nap. Usually I hear her open her door and head right upstairs to see why she's getting up. Today however she was sneaky and super quiet. I put her down around 2pm and at about 2:45pm I heard her little potty playing music. I quickly went upstairs because usually if she gets up it's right after I put her down for nap or a couple hours later after she's had her nap. This was only 45 minutes so I was a little puzzled. I got to the top of the stairs and see the kid's bathroom light on. Out walks Little Miss Emmaline and this is what she looked like.


She says, "I pretty!" Yes, that's right. She was busy getting into my makeup instead of napping for that 45 minutes. I'm not sure how long she was playing in the bathroom (which is a little scary in itself), but it was long enough to get my eyeshadow, mascara, and eyeliner out. Then she had my hairspray and deodorant out too. While, I wasn't happy about what she had done, I was chuckling on the inside when I saw her. I had to laugh about it because at some time or another doesn't every little girl do this. Now that she's up with me in the morning since we have to leave early for school she's been seeing me put on my makeup. I guess she wanted to be like mommy. She knew she was in trouble and I asked her if she had done a good thing or a bad thing. Right away she told me bad thing, so she knew it was wrong. We washed it off before I put her back down for nap and boy did she not like her eyelids being washed. I'm hoping that means she's learned her lesson and won't do it again. I also explained to her that make-up was for big people, and she was already so pretty that she doesn't need make-up. Just another day in the life of Little Miss Emmaline's three year old episodes! Her three's are turning out to be worse than the two's!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Last week in Evan's Friday folder he brought home numerous pieces of his work from the week. I wanted to share this piece he did in Art class because well... I thought he did a great job, and I'm a proud mom. He's come a long way in such a short time with his drawings and coloring that I'm very impressed with his work. You all know the children's book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, right? Well if you're not familiar with it here's what it looks like.


It's a story about the alphabet with great rhyming text. The young letters (lowercase letters) climb up the coconut tree in alphabetical order (of course). However, when they all get to the top the tree can't hold them and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom they all fall down. Not to worry though, with the help of their adult friends (uppercase letters) they come to the rescue and help the lowercase letters get untangled in alphabetical order. The story ends with "a" daring the others to climb the tree again which leads to kids wanting the read the story over and over. The great repetition of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" really gets kids involved to chant along with the words. A great book for young learners!

Now that you have the little synopsis of the book and you saw what it looks like. I'm about to show you my Evan's version of the book cover. In Art class they had to paint the cover of the book using their hands and sponges for the tree. Then they had to find the letter stampers with the letters in their name and stamp on their paper. Here's Evan's masterpiece! I think he did a great job, don't you?

First Family Football Game

Happy Monday readers! Wow, today went by fast. I was busy doing some Uppercase Living stuff today so that took up most of my free time today. Now I feel like I should be in bed since it's getting darker earlier and earlier these days. However, before I hit the hay I thought I'd tell you about our fun family outing this weekend and a few other tidbits about the weekend. Friday night we went out to Jimmy's Pub down the street with my friend Jess. We had a couple drinks, I tried their bloody Mary's of course (which were pretty good, but not as good as Pizza House). It was nice to just sit and chat with Jess after all she's been through in the past week with her house fire. After Jimmy's Greg headed home so he could go pick up the kids (Greg's mom watched them for a little bit so we could go out), and I went with Jess to check out some places for her and her family to live for the next few months since they'll be out of their house. Then we ran some errands and called it a night. It was nice to hang out with you Jess. I enjoyed your company and loved a little girl time!

Saturday Greg and I took the kids to the MSU football game. This was our first football game as a family. We took Evan to a game two years ago, and Em and Ev have both been to the spring practice games, but we all hadn't been to a regular season game together. We talked about it over the summer that we wanted to take the kids to a game. Well, tickets are like $49 a person and I didn't want to spend that much not knowing if Em would sit through the whole game or what the weather would be like. Then about a month ago, my friend Marie told me she found out about the Jr. Spartan Club. I quickly jumped on the bandwagon and called up the ticket office to find out a little more about it. The Jr. Spartan Club is for kids preschool aged to 8th grade. It costs $25 per child to join and then each kid gets a ticket to the Northern Colorado vs. MSU football game which was on Saturday, plus they get free tickets for their parents. It also includes a t-shirt and a membership card which gets them into other sporting events like volleyball, soccer, women's basketball, gymnastics, baseball, and softball for free throughout the year. Not a bad deal for $25. So for two memberships at $50, all four of us went to the game for $50 when one ticket is usually $49. Plus there was a free tailgate included at Munn Ice Arena before the game. That included free hot dogs/ subs, drinks, etc. and the kids could skate free on the rink. We met up with our friends Jim & Marie & their kids so it was fun for all the kids to go to the game together.

It wasn't the most exciting game, and it was a wee bit chilly, but overall the kids had fun, we had fun, and the Spartans won so that's all that matters. My little Emmaline cheered like crazy for most of the game. She was definitely showing her Spartan spirit! The only problem with the game was that there was a little accident and Emmaline started to fall off the bleachers so my quick mom instinct was to try and catch her. Well, I did keep her from hitting her face on the benches and really getting hurt, but in the process I dropped my camera and well now it's broken. Ugh! I am so lost without my camera and it's only been two days! I take lots of pictures quite frequently and now with no camera I'm going crazy. Anyhow, here's a few pics from game day that I got before the camera broke.

We got on campus just in time to see the team walking over from Kellogg to the stadium. Evan was so excited he got a bunch of high 5's & hand shakes from the players. Especially his favorite- Quarterback, Kirk Cousins!

The MSU Dance Team was at the Munn tailgate and of course my little Emmaline had to have a picture with them AND once again she grabbed the pompons right away!

Daddy with the kiddos out on the ice!Brother & Sister all set to head into Spartan Stadium and cheer on those Spartans!Yes, we were way up there and yes, it was windy! Em didn't mind though and she was all smiles! That's my little Sparty girl!Evan enjoying some Spartan football!

Evan & Emmaline with Kyra & Connor

Saturday night was bunco night! I missed last month so it was great to have girls night again! My friend Carla hosted and it was a fun night. Lots of laughs and good times! I talked Jess into going because I figured she needed a night out so I was glad she joined us. I didn't walk away with any money or baby bunco prizes, but I did win a big bunco prize which was strawberry daiquiri wine coolers so that was cool. Since I was going to be gone, Greg took the kids to the volleyball game while I was at bunco. They had a fun time, and we got some use out of their Jr. Spartan Club membership right away since they got in free!

Sunday was a lazy day pretty much. It was chilly again, and after I got up I ended up taking a nap two hours later. I fell asleep on the couch and my hubby let me rest so that was nice! Finally after I woke up about noon we had some lunch and then took the kids to the Halloween store to look at costumes. We didn't really find anything there so then we went to Party City. We ended up walking away with two costumes that I hadn't planned on. I had one thing in mind for Em and then after she tried on a different costume she melted my heart in it so I decided to go with it. I can't tell you what the kids are going to be, but they're going to look really cute together, trust me! That was our weekend! Hope you all had a great weekend too!

School Stuff

It's a Friday! You rarely hear from me on a Friday, but yeah me for getting another post in this week! We're now well into the school routine since Evan just finished his third week of school. Wow, this month is flying by. Every Friday Evan's got a Friday folder he brings home with all his school work from the week. I'm so amazed at what he is learning already. I can only imagine how far he will have come by the end of the school year. It only took the second week of school for the Scholastic book order to come home in the Friday folder. Do you remember the Scholastic book order from when you were in school. I loved, loved, loved the Scholastic book order. Getting to order new books was so exciting. Evan actually had the Scholastic book orders in preschool the past two years. The first time he brought one home in preschool I was a little shocked that he did. I didn't know they even did book orders in preschool. It was great though because I loved ordering him new books. I'm the "sucker" parent when it comes to the Scholastic book order. I pretty much order almost every time! I'm even known to order some books from the Scholastic book order for gifts. Nothing better than a good book for a child! I'm also a "sucker" when it comes to the $1 books on the order form. They're usually decent books and they usually end up in my order, at least one if not more. I love looking through the order forms and seeing what's available that month, and when I see books that I had as a kid I get really excited. Evan loves looking through the book orders too, and I'm not sure who gets more excited about it, him or me! So with that said, the book order is due back to school on Monday and it looks like we'll probably be getting a few new books!

This week in school Evan was student of the day on Monday. Each day there's a different student of the day and then after everyone has had a chance it starts all over again. So about once a month each child gets to be student of the day and do special things. Student of the day gets to bring in the class snack, be the line leader, carry the bell at recess time, and do things like calendar, use the Smart Board, etc. For this first month of "student of the month" each student has a special book they have to complete before it's their special day. We picked up these books at open house and Evan completed his right away before school even started. Here's a couple pages from his book.

On this page he had to draw a picture of his home. He did this all by himself and he made a point to show me he drew the front door window just like our door. He did a great job!

This page he drew his favorite thing to do inside... play his drums!

When Evan found out about student of the day he couldn't wait until it was his day. He informed me right away that he was taking popcorn for snack. One of his favorite things and it was on the snack list as an acceptable item to bring in. So Sunday night we popped bags of popcorn and bagged up 25 little baggies for snack. (The teacher asks that snack be already prepared and ready to distribute to the students. Much different than preschool when I just had to send a box of crackers or bag of goldfish in.) The popcorn was a hit with the kids Evan said and he had a great day being student of the day!

This week in school also brought about picture day. When you hear picture day, I know it's got to bring back memories for you because it does for me. The Lifetouch school portraits. No, they haven't changed much. The order form still looks the same and there's the five different backgrounds to choose from. Do you remember the laser background when you were in school. When Greg and I looked at the order form, it was the first thing we both said. It wasn't an option this time around. Darn it. LOL. However, what has changed is the price. I can't believe how expensive the packages are for school pictures and none of the packages have the right size pictures you need. Then when you have a husband who is a photographer and you know he can take better pictures you don't really want to spend a lot. We decided to order some this time just because you have to have your kids school picture, but believe me we won't be spending a fortune on school pictures throughout the kids school years. A basic package is good enough for us! With picture day comes the big question of what to wear. Thank goodness I've only got a kindergartener right now because I'm sure the day will come when picture day will be a struggle between the kids and I of what they should where. Evan and I kind of talked about what he should wear and I gave him a few options and he made a nice choice. So we'll see in a few months when pictures come in how they come out. I told him to smile nice when he got out of the car this morning, and when I picked him up he said he did.

That wraps up the latest school stuff. No homework for my little guy, but I can see he's doing a lot in school everyday. I think we made a good choice in sending him to Haslett. Oh I almost forgot to share the nice message from Evan's teacher. I had sent her an email last week about volunteering in the classroom and she emailed me back. At the end of her email she wrote, "Your Evan is awesome!!!" What a great thing to hear from your child's teacher after only two weeks of school. Way to go Ev, keep up the great job!

Catching Up

Here we are again. Time to play catch up since I haven't been on for almost a week. I left off with my "Room A Day" which to be honest isn't going as well as planned, but then again I have two kids so the cleaning is a constant battle. Thursday I got our bedroom cleaned, linens washed, and even some clothes boxed up for Goodwill. Our bedroom is always neglected because it's always the last thing I do because nobody is ever in there, but us. I decided this time I wouldn't leave it for last. It got a much needed cleaning, but unfortunately our bedroom furniture is a dust magnet and it already seems like it could be cleaned again. It'll have to wait though until I get back around to that room. Friday I attacked the living room, and then came the weekend. Nothing really got done on the weekend. So while I did accomplish some rooms, there's still much to be done.

Our weekend had some ups and downs. Friday around 5pm I heard fire trucks coming down the street. They went past the house and stopped about half way down. I knew instantly it was my friend Jess' house. Just one of those feelings you get. When I had run out to look I didn't have my shoes on so I ran back into get them and tore down the street. Thankfully Greg had just gotten home so he could stay with the kids. I saw Jess holding her dog, and from the looks I knew it wasn't good. There had been a fire in her kitchen. She came home and found the house full of smoke. Thankfully nobody was home at the time so everyone is fine. Her husband Steve took their dog to the MSU Vet Clinic where he was well cared for and thankfully after two nights there he's fine too. Unfortunately there's lots of damage to the house. Fire damage in the kitchen, water damage on two levels, and smoke damage throughout the whole house. My heart goes out to Jessica and her family. They will be out of their house for probably three to four months. Jess, I know you read my blog so PLEASE don't hesitate to call if you need anything. We're right down the street!

On Saturday I discovered that Monday was actually Jess and Steve's anniversary. My first thought was "Seriously? What timing!" So not fun to celebrate an anniversary with all this going on. I quickly sent out messages to some of the neighbors to see who would want to chip in for a gift card for them so they could have an anniversary dinner. The neighbors came together wonderfully, and by Monday morning I collected $50 of gift cards to P.F. Chang's that my friend Jenn had laying around and $100 total from 12 other neighbors/families. I went to Eastwood Towne Center to get a gift card so then they could either add to the P.F. Chang's gift card or eat at a few different restaurants over the next few months when they need. Jess and Steve were of course overwhelmed when I gave it to them. It was all of ours pleasure to do it. Try to enjoy some meals on us even though I know you love to cook your own meals Jess! We love ya guys and know you're in our prayers!

Now onto some happy news! Say it with me... "Victory for MSU!" Saturday brought about a day of football, but the most anticipated game of the weekend was MSU vs. ND which we had to wait until 8pm for game time. The first half of the game was boring, but the second half was on fire. Both teams scoring back and forth and just what I didn't want was overtime! Notre Dame scored with a field goal in OT, but my Spartans answered back and on 4th down it was time to bring out the inexperienced field goal kicker for a 46 yard field goal. The odds were not in our favor, but then came the biggest shock to all Spartan fans! A fake and no field goal after all. A sweet 29 yard pass from Aaron Bates to Charlie Gantt who ran it into the end zone to win the game! As Bates is getting ready to throw the pass, I'm of course yelling at the t.v. and shouting, "What are you doing?" Then Gantt catches AND runs it into the end zone and Greg says, "Winning the game!" I do get emotional over games and yes the tears of joy were flowing! Wow, what a finish for a great victory! I LOVE it when we beat Notre Dame! Super super awesome. Coach Dantonio was interviewed and said, "That play is called the Little Giant!" We Spartan fans LOVE LOVE LOVE the "Little Giant!" That's three wins for the Spartans! Keep it up guys!

Sunday we took the kids to the cider mill. It was just a quick trip there this time. It was super busy crazy since there was an Arts & Crafts show going on too. We stayed for a little bit and then got our cider and donuts and headed home. Unfortunately we heard more bad news when we were out there. Coach Dantonio had suffered a heart attack early Sunday morning which was actually soon after the end of the game. Thankfully he got to Sparrow and had surgery and is doing fine. He'll be out some games, but were so happy he's doing well now. Our prayers go out to the Dantonio family! We love ya Coach D!

A new week is upon us and I'm battling the living room again keeping it clean. The toy situation for some reason is really annoying me lately. Hopefully soon we'll find a resolution so the floor isn't always covered in toys. Today the weather was wonderful. It reached 91 in September! Woo hoo! Now we've got a crazy storm going on. Hopefully it won't wake the kids tonight.

Room A Day

What beautiful weather we've had this week wouldn't you say? While a little cool in the mornings, it's been very pleasant during the days. I was a little sad that summer came to an end because that means winter is fast approaching. However, once I get over the fact that the warm weather is gone I really do enjoy fall. It's a beautiful time of the year in Michigan. I'm almost to the point that I'm really ready for fall, although I wouldn't mind a couple hot days before months end! With that said this fall I'm taking on a cleaning attack on the house. Usually you think of "Spring Cleaning," but I've decided this fall I'm going to some "Fall Cleaning" with my new cleaning plan of attack. Cleaning can be overwhelming at times, especially with two kids in the house. I feel like it's a constant battle with toys scattered about, laundry baskets needing emptied, and just cleaning- vacuuming, dusting, etc. Now that Ev's off to school in the mornings and it's not so chaotic around here with two kids all day long, I've decided that I'm going to try to make good use of my morning time. I'm hoping I can stick with this, but please don't hound me if I don't.

Now before I go into my cleaning plan of attack here's a few side notes. It's not a complicated plan of attack. It's not just simple dusting and vacuuming of rooms, and it's meant to be a feasible plan of attack. Here it is: It's my "Room A Day" plan of attack. Quite simply, I am going to try to clean a room a day in the time from when I get home from dropping Ev off at school to the time I have to leave to pick him up. It's roughly a 2 1/2 hour time frame that I have. Now remind you I still have Em to tend to so I may not have a whole 2 1/2 hours of time to commit to my room. I thought that if I didn't make the task of cleaning so enormous (trying to get it all done in a day), I'd have more success if I took it in baby steps. I'm doing a "good cleaning" which could include things like wiping stuff down, organizing, dusting, vacuuming, picking up toys, going through piles of paper, etc.

So with that said, I started on Monday and I kicked off my "Room A Day" with a bang actually. I attacked the bathrooms and instead of just one, I cleaned all three bathrooms. (If I'm on a roll and finish one room, and still have time I'm entitled to clean more than one room a day). I got everything cleaned, but the floors which I still need to do. I HATE cleaning bathroom floors (or any floors for that matter) so I always put that off last. Yesterday, I attacked the kitchen. Wiping counters and the outside of the cabinets down, dishes, and going through papers. The island in the kitchen is known to be a collecting spot for the mail and I'm working on trying to keep it cleaner. It's a hard task, but it's improving. Today I ended up not attacking my room for the day. I had to get the dishwasher emptied because the repair man was coming for to fix a recall on our dishwasher. Then I had a couple errands to run so my morning flew by and before I knew it it was time to pick Ev up. So while I didn't get to mark a room off on my list today, I'm proud that I've gotten three bathrooms and the kitchen done in the first three days. My goal is to have this place in tip top shape by the end of the month. Wish me luck!

Our New Neighbors

I told you in my fun fact last Monday that Evan has found a new buddy, our new neighbor. I promised I'd tell you in a following post. I didn't forget yesterday, but wanted to catch you up on other things. So anyway, the blue house next door has been empty for almost a year. Sometime in June it went up for sale. We saw a few people look at it and around the beginning of August it was sold. Finally Labor Day weekend our new neighbors moved in. That Thursday before Labor Day they were there painting so Evan and I walked over to invite them to the block party. At the time, I wasn't sure when they were moving in, but wanted to welcome them to the neighborhood and let them know they were welcome to join the party. I met Kate and talked to her for a few minutes and she told me they were moving in the next day, Friday.

On that Sunday, we were outside doing some yard work before the block party and Jim (Kate's husband) was also outside working. He was about to power wash some of their porch and walked over to introduce himself. Greg and I chatted with him for quite some time, and the kids also jumped in on the conversation. Evan especially was Mr. Chatty and took to Jim right away! Jim asked if we needed anything power washed, and he'd do it when he was done with his house. After mentioning that I've been wanting the porch done all summer, he ended up washing the whole front porch area. So nice of him. We really appreciated it. Later that afternoon Jim and Kate ended up not making it to the block party since they were busy unpacking. So after everyone cleared out and we got everything cleaned up from the block party, Greg and I were chilling on the deck. We got to talking and I told Greg I should at least invite Jim & Kate over for a beer or something for power washing the porch. This was about 9:30pm so Evan and I walked over and knocked on their door. Jim was in the middle of doing his football fantasy picks so he couldn't leave, but asked if we could have the beer another time. So Evan being Evan, asking a million questions while we were there, asked Jim what he was doing. Jim showed him the picks he was doing, and Evan was chatting it up. I had to tear Evan away to go back home. Before we left Jim to Evan maybe sometime they could play some football out in the yard. He then made the comment to Evan, "Come knock on my door sometime and ask Kate if Jim can play."

Well, ever since Evan heard that everyday he's been asking if he can go see if Jim can play. What a kid. They played one night during the week and then we were busy with stuff other nights. Evan asked all weekend if he could go see if Jim could play football. Even on Saturday when it was raining. Finally last night after dinner we told him he could go over there to see Jim. He knocked on the door and when Kate answered he said, "Can Jim play football?" Too funny, like he really thought Jim needed permission to play. Both the kids played and Jim and Greg played a lot of "monkey in the middle" keeping the ball from them. We chatted for a bit and before we left Kate offered the kids a brownie which just made their day. We found out that Kate owns a dance studio so maybe Emme will be taking some more dance classes down the road. I'm not sure the time slot for her age group this session is going to work for us, but maybe in the future.

We're pretty much used to not having neighbors next door because even before it was vacant we never saw the guy that lived there very much. It was always pretty quiet. When we saw the sold sign we were keeping our fingers crossed that we'd get some good neighbors, and I think we have. We look forward to getting to know them, and hanging out. I'm pretty sure Evan and Em are too since they're already asking tonight if Jim is home from work yet. Kate works late at the dance studio during the week so poor Jim gets bombarded with our kids in the evening. Don't worry though we're setting limits so the kids aren't over there constantly making them want to move already! LOL. So welcome to the neighborhood Jim and Kate. We're very happy to have you as our neighbors.

Before I finish here, you may have noticed the new poll on the right hand side. If not check it out. I've decided to switch the blog up a bit and am removing the "Fun Facts" for awhile and decided to replace it with a poll. This is totally mindless and is purely just for fun. It's pretty simple, I'll post a question either once or twice a week and if you want to vote go ahead and click. If you don't want to vote you don't have to. There's a time limit to answer so if it's not before the end of the week, then I will likely post a new question mid-week. (Don't hold me to that though in case I get behind.) Feel free to leave me a comment after one of my posts of the week if you want to add anything more than your vote to the question. Remember, it's just for fun! The first one is in honor or the Ellen and Oprah season premieres today. You all know how I love my Ellen show so today was a great day with her season eight premiere! I can't wait to see all the fun and exciting things season eight brings!!!