Happy Halloween!

I hope you

and your little monsters. . .



or little butterflies . . . .



are having a Spooktacular Halloween!

One More

Because he's my first born.

Because I'm his Momma.

Because I've posted a few pictures of him crying and angry.

Because he's stinkin' adorable.

Because posting pictures of my kids makes me happy.

Because I just couldn't NOT post this one.


Mostly though because I love his sweet little smile when he looks up at me like this, and I just wanted to share.

Happy Day!

Smiling Eyes

Even if you covered his face from the nose down, I still think you would see it.

HIs eyes tell me exactly what he's feeling, and when they smile like this . . . well, they just melt a momma's heart, you know?


I hope he never loses this sparkle of happiness in his eyes.

This Little Stinker!

It's been so cold and rainy here lately. Yesterday was such a lovely little break. It was a nice relatively warm day, so we took advantage of the daylight and went to the park to play.

My littlest one here is WAY too cool to look at me when I have my camera. I'm lucky to get a shot of her face at all.



Usually my pictures all look like this . . .



Or this . . .



Or, I just give up on catching all the sparkles in her bright shiny blue eyes and settle for a picture like this . . .



And once in a while, if I'm quick (I mean SUPER quick), I can catch her looking at me. It lasts for only a second, and there is no opportunity for a do-over. Thank goodness I have Photoshop to help me make my blah little pictures something I want to look at over and over!

I sure do love this little stinker!

Magic

That's what these two are to me.

Pure, simple, wonderful, rub-my-eyes-to-make-sure-they-are-still-there, and then try-to-imagine-how-in-the-world-I-got-so-lucky kind of magic.

I hope you are having a magical fall!

Hiding

What is small, cute, loud, and quite possibly the world's WORST hider?

My little guy!!



He's "hiding" under this chair here in our bedroom. I really couldn't resist taking his cute little mug, and for once, he seemed to be enjoying my camera!

Swimming, Anyone???

Raise your hand if you're already ready for summer again?

OK, well, then just put these goggles on and pretend like we are going to the pool.



These are a recent find - my old swim goggles pushed WAY into the back of a drawer that my little girl can't seem to stop digging in. Needless to say, the kids are loving them. I really might have to get them kiddie sized swim goggles for the summer!

Game Night

Thanks to some very generous hand-me-down games and some very cold and wet days and nights, we've been able to play a few "new" board games.



My boy is getting to the stage where he can understand what's going on. My girl just likes to hold the game pieces. Either way, we all have a good time, which is good because I think I know how our winter will be spent.

Time Out Little Man

Time-Out is becoming a VERY popular place to be in our house.

I can't say he likes it very much.



I also can't say that it stops him from doing whatever it was that got him into Time-Out in the first place.

Do you think he'll ever learn?

Seriously . . . will he ever????

Global Warming

I think he has the power.

One look with those big blue eyes . . .



. . . and my heart melts.



And I'm sure so would anything else in their path. Could he be responsible for this phenomenon?

Little Pumpkins

Nothing says Fall like a visit to a pumpkin patch. However, our pumpkin patch turned out to be a single row of pumpkins because the farmer that used to grow them decided he needed to retire. Good for him, but it would have been nice to know before we drove out to his farm. Yes, that's me being selfish because I had emptied my memory card and charged the battery in my camera in hopes of getting the kiddos picking their perfect pumpkin.



Anyhoo, my kids didn't notice at all. They ran up and down the lonely row of pumpkins and even got to see some chickens, cows, and much to my little guy's excitement . . . a lawn mower! Yes, good times here in the Midwest.



Now, I don't know if we will get adventuresome enough to carve the pumpkins, but if we do, you can bet that my camera will be ready!

I ♥ Faces Challege: Excited!

This is my son's good friend from daycare. We all spent a day together at the petting zoo, and this little guy couldn't get enough of these little goats!



To see other images that convey excitement, head on over to I ♥ Faces and check out all the entries!

My Babies

I'm convinced that these two will always be the light of my life. No matter how big or tall or far away they roam, they will ALWAYS be my babies.



Have a wonderful, wonderful week!

Vegas Revisited

We've been back a week, and I'm already thinking about next year's trip. Where will we stay? Where will we eat? What novel series am I going to read? . . . the usual questions.

This year because of the unfortunate economic downturn (boo) we got to stay at a pretty fabulous hotel (yay). What luck (incidentally, the ONLY luck we had during our trip)! How did that happen? Who knows? Who cares? It happened, and I'm happy about that.

We stayed at the Wynn Hotel. It's one of the newer hotels on the strip, and oh-so-lovely! Here's a few pictures from the lobby - amazing that they can actually get trees to grow (or at least stay alive) inside. And yes, they were real - I had to steal a leaf just to make sure. Another nice thing about the hotel was that there were fresh flowers everywhere - just a pretty little touch that did not go unnoticed.



I'm gonna call this next series of pictures "Looking Up at the Wynn." There were so many beautiful chandeliers and fixtures - many more that I tried to take photos of, and I just couldn't do them any justice. Here are a few that I think turned out very nice.



As if the lobby wasn't enough, we got to our room and found it to be just as nice/pretty as the lobby. Our room was a direct contrast to the bold and bright hotel lobby - it was calm and serene and minimal - nice white linens, some bold artwork but not over-the-top, brown walls - just peaceful and lovely. Oh, and my favorite parts about any trip any where are the complimentary soaps, shampoos, lotions, etc that wait for us in the rooms. I don't know why I love this so much, but it makes my day. Seriously, there's something wrong with me!



We ate SO much good food this year, but this is the only place I took my camera. Dirck had seen Anthony Bourdain on the travel channel visit Las Vegas and go ga-ga over this place's french fries. OK, here's what I have to say about that . . . yes, they were good french fries . . . but they were only french fries - you know, fried strips of potatoes. If Bourdain had been in a McDonalds in the past say 5 years or so, he would be familiar with fries and know that the ones at this restaurant weren't any better than the lovely Golden Arches version. OK, I'm off my soapbox on that one. The restaurant proved to be very good. Dirck and I both ordered the same thing ( I think he was paranoid that I would walk over to his side of the table to take pictures of his food if he would have ordered anything different than me) - french onion soup as a starter and lamb for the entree. Both wonderful - both beautiful - both delicious - both made it almost impossible to walk and not waddle back to the hotel room.



The most beautiful part about this restaurant was this custom bar. It is made of pewter and was hand cast in France and shipped over for the restaurant. It looks like it could have come out of an old bistro bar - that's the great thing about pewter - no stains, no tarnishing - what was created 100's of years ago would look the same today as it did then. If we would have hit it big in Vegas, I would be measuring my new home for a beautiful bar like this!



And my husband's favorite part about the restaurant. . . they had his favorite beer on tap! That is crazy considering it's some obscure little monk brewed Belgian beer that he can only get in 2 stores in our entire area. We walked in, and I fell in love with the pewter bar, he fell in love with the beer . . . sigh. Oh, and my after dinner cocktail of choice: a latte - plain and simple.



It's a good thing we don't live close to Vegas. First of all, my figure couldn't handle it - I have NO control when it comes to a buffet with 500 different perfectly portioned and beautiful desserts lined up on the counter, and secondly . . . because it's Vegas, and let's just say the odds aren't really in your favor anywhere in that town. That being said, it's a GREAT place to visit, and I'm REALLY looking forward to going back!

Pretty Things

Dirck and I just returned from a nice weekend get-a-way. I spent the weekend holed up in our room in Vegas with the last 2 Twilight books (thought I'd see what all the fuss was about, and yes, I liked them), and Dirck got crazy busy at the poker tables. You'd think in Vegas I would want to party like a rockstar, but sadly, I'm no rockstar . . .

with no aspirations of EVER being a rockstar . . .

or a star . . .

maybe a rock . . .

Anyhoo, I did make it out of the amazingly deep soaking tub and crazy high thread count sheets and fluffy sink-into-and-get-lost down pillows to eat some great food with my hubby and to walk around with my little camera.



This was a beautiful mosaic mural on the wall in our hotel lobby. I couldn't stop staring at it . . . the time it took to do this, the thought and skill to get it artistically "right." I just thought it was beautiful and wanted to share.

Hope you are having a great weekend!

Jumping Monkeys

Nothing makes my little ones happier than a Bounce-A-Round!

Nothing makes me happier than watching them!

This is from a fun Fall Festival here in our neighborhood last weekend. They got balloons and fire hats and got to play in this fun,fun bounce-a-round. They took great afternoon naps that day!! Ahhhh . . . outdoor fall fun - gotta love it!

The Last Hurrah

We took our final trip of the season to the petting zoo last week. It will be closing at the end of next month for the winter, so the kids and I headed there so we could get our baby goat fix - and boy, did we ever! I was so surprised that my littlest one did not try to drink that bottle - yes, she's over a year old, but I just can't seem to take away her morning and night bottle, and her bottle looks a lot like that little goat's bottle. She knew though . . . she knew it wasn't for her, and she took great pride in feeding those goats. She would give a little bit to one goat, and then take it away to find another goat, and so on, and so forth . . . My boy fed them his bottle, but as soon as the goats started jumping on each other and butting each other out of the way to get to the bottle, he decided he had enough and went to sit on that poor, poor little goat that you see here in the picture. Don't worry, I shooed him off the goat as soon as I snapped this picture! My little lady cried when we left. Wait, that's not right . . . . she SCREAMED like I was pinching her as hard as I could (I wasn't) or like she had just fallen and busted her nose (she didn't). She's becoming quite the dramatic little actress these days! I wonder if that comes from Dirck's side of the family - surely it's not from me???