double digits

This shady character is ten today.

How is it possible that my baby is 10? I thought that Emma turning 12 was freaky...Evan being ten is even freakier.

In 10 years, he has brought much laughter and fun into our lives.

In 10 years, he has given me countless hugs and kisses and 'I love you's'.

In 10 years, he has turned "What in the world am I going to do with a boy?" into "What in the world would I do without this boy?"

He is loud and thickheaded and stubborn and crazy and can't sit still for a minute

He has that special 'IT' quality that make people flock to him

and I adore him.

Happy birthday little man!

the downfall of cute, woolen shoes

...leaves stick to them.

I can't walk anywhere without a clump of them stuck to my shoes. I track them into the house, the car, etc. I don't even think about it until I look down and see them clinging to me.

It's been a gorgeous fall day-one that makes me wish we'd have had Evan's birthday party this Saturday instead of next. Sigh. Is it too much to ask to have another nice day for next Saturday?

We spent a majority of the day today deconsturcting Ev's bedroom so we can make it over. I have been cleaning it out here and there, but basically we are sorting thru 8+ years of his crap (I mean his special things. My mistake) It's not pretty nor for the faint of heart. I don't know how much we will really accomplish this weekend, but it is clean, walls patched, decals removed, bunk bed torn down. The long term plan will include a closet redo & a new bed frame. It also needs to be painted, but we may just touch up for now. We'll see. I think once we put the tv and the Wii in there, he won't care what else we do!

Have a great weekend!

Just call me Martha. Or Betty. Or PW.

The last few days I have experimenting with some new foods for dinner. Blame it on Ree Drummond. I got her brand spanking new cookbook the other day, and ever since, all I have done is drool and dream of 'cowboy food'.

The first thing I did was run out and buy the ingredients to make pico de gallo. Pico is one of my great loves, and I never understood that the key to pico perfection is perfect portions (try saying that three times fast!) Equal amounts of tomatoes, onion and cilantro and you are one step closer to Nirvana.

I had to stop reading the cookbook, because I was literally getting nothing else done. But I want to make her cinnamon rolls so badly it hurts.

Instead, I turned to this months Everyday Food magazine, which is chock full of deliciousness! On Tuesday I made the chili rubbed flank steak with polenta & cabbage. The steak was a major hit, but neither kid liked the polenta. I thought it was tasty. Last night I made the pork and soba noodle salad. I made mine hot. The kids devoured it. Made that third trip to find soba noodles worthwhile!

Today I baked the pumpkin spice cake with honey frosting. My house smells fantastic. I can't wait to dive into it tonight. If it lasts that long!

end game

Last game of the season

Stallions vs. Colts

November 1st- 55 degrees and the sun is shining

it's a perfect day for football!

They changed the format for this last game, to give all the developmental players and second teamers more playing time. Whatever it was, it worked. Evan got no less than 10 minutes playing time in each half. He was all over the field.

The best moment was catching a pass on the 2 or 3 yard line.

look how many guys are on him! Still standing!!

Hold on to that ball!

The Stallions went on to win 19-6, although the score should have been much higher. (we had three turnovers on the goal line)

He had many great tackles as well...this is the only one on my side of the field.

Favorite moment of the game? Coach Fred grabbing and twirling Evan after this play and screaming "Now You're playing the game! Now you're hitting somebody!" Twirling in football? Absolutely :)

Great way to end the season.

scary? nah!

Just a few pix of our trick-or-treaters. Em was a (non-slutty)witch, and Evan was an amigo. He kept telling people he was a Spanish dude. It's all about the moustache.

We had a great time treating over at Greg & Tracey's house in Allen Park. In their neighborhood, they pull out their lawn furniture and fire pits. It's very festive. A few blocks over were having a block party, which is an awesome idea! We only pandered for candy for an hour, because the divalicious Emma wore high heels and her feet were killing her. Lesson learned. Regardless, they got tons of treats.

3 out of 5 houses wanted Evan's hat. Coolest amigo in town.

At least his hat stayed on in the brisk wind...Emma was chasing hers most of the night!

buenos noches!

Happy Halloween! v.09

Happy Halloween to everyone out there! I hope you have a fun and safe night filled with all the best candy (Butterfingers and Snickers, of course).

It's been another busy week. After my meltdown on Monday, Emma took pity of me and okayed a witches costume from Target. So YEAH for no sewing this week! Evan took forever to decide what to dress as. Next year we are definitely going to be prepared early October.

Some of the practices that were scheduled went accordingly, and some were passed over.

I wasn't feeling well all week, but not really sick either, which is totally annoying. I had a low grade fever and exhaustion, and of course a headache too. I'm glad it didn't develop into anything, but am annoyed at losing a few more days to ick.

I booked Evan's friend birthday party for November 14th...now to just cross my fingers and pray that the weather holds out for the activities he wants to do. Invitations went out this morning. Love to check items off the list. Only 92 other things to do!

We are trick-or-treating in my SIL's neighborhood tonight. They set up a fire pit and hang out, so we decided to drive out there. I have no pix of the kids in their costumes yet. Can't wait to dress 'em up :)

Have a great weekend!

moving at the speed of sludge

That would be me, in a nutshell.

I am feeling so out of control and don't know what to do first. To say that I am overwhelmed at the moment would be way understating my state of mind. I feel trapped in the headlights, and the truck is bearing down fast.

AAAAHHHHHH!

I just want to crawl under the covers and not emerge until January. Like the Groundhog, only in reverse. I need 6 weeks of no activity before I can proceed with life.

I just found out today that our last football game was not our last football game at all. Lets add a playoff game in there! Yes,that makes sense because the team did so well in the regular season. And let's play the team that just creamed us 27-0 again. That sounds like fun! And for shits & giggles, let's hold the game in a location over an hour away, so that it takes up as much of a Sunday as possible! And since we are playing another game, you must of course attend practice for another full week.

And you, parent of a U13 girl in our soccer program: I understand your last game was yesterday (congrats on the win!), but we really think you need to practice this week as well. While you are at it, parent of a U10 boy: you can practice too. Let's be fair all around.

**************************************************

To all manufactures of girls' Halloween costumes:

YOU SUCK!!!!

I thank you for adding one more thing for me to deal with this week. If I wanted my daughter to solicit candy dressed as a prostitute, I would flat out dress her as a hooker. For less money.

************************************

And now my thoughts turn to November and the bevy of things that occur during said month. Not one of which we are in any way, shape, or form prepared for. Evan's 10th birthday? Not a clue what's going on. It's in 15 days. And even if we did have a clue, we have no free weekends to do a party or anything! We have a family party, a friend party, a room redo, Sandy Treiber's 70th birthday, a football banquet, my mom's birthday, my step-mom's birthday, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving in Canada, and probably 174 other things that I didn't mention but are expected to be taken care of.

That's it. I am definitely taking up drinking in the afternoons.

***************************************************

My last rant, promise.

I started a sweater, for me. Pretty yarn, knitting long distance with a buddy for moral support, couldn't wait to work on it. A 'no stress' project. HA!

I have put in about 3 hours so far, and it's all wrong. I have to frog and start from scratch. But it's not because I can't follow directions, it's because the directions are for crap!

My no stress project is adding stress to my life. And I want to cry.

*************************************************

the end.