Date Night

We did it! we got out for an evening with adults! We dropped bubs off and his Grandma & Grandpa Dilley's and we went out with the Torro's (One of our favorite couples) to Dinner and bowling. We had a great time-it was so weird to not have anyone yelling at us or any dogs chewing and jumping. I also have to note that I beat Clint bowling-yes this is a first so It needs to go down on the books. None of us did to hot but we had a great time. The sad thing was we planned to have Arlo stay over night at the grandparents and at the end of our night we just missed him so bad we wanted to go and get him. We did make it until morning. How sad are we? But it was great to have my Hubby all to myself for a night. I miss talking to him without getting interrupted a thousand times. Arlo had a great time to. He went down to the shop with grandpa and they sawed some blocks. He was in heaven. The kid has an obsession with tools. I am pretty sure this is related to seeing his daddy constantly working on something on our fixer upper house since he was born. We even got up our Christmas lights this weekend which Arlo wanted to hang himself. Wow! who knew a 4 hour job would become a 2 day event when kids and dogs are involved?

Let the Chaos ensue

Well, today I thought it would be fun to invite two friends over from my moms group for a casual morning of coffee and chit chat while the kids played... This is what happened instead; All of the kids got the great Idea to go out in the back yard! which it is a perfect day for, except we now have a little dog that craps everywhere...So we had a group full of toddlers with poop on their shoes, or in Arlo's case on his bare feet because I didn't get to him before he ran out the back door with no shoes on. While we were busy tending to the shoes the little ones decided to go downstairs to play. In a matter of seconds I hear little screams followed by a herd of babies running up the stairs . What could be wrong you ask??? Well by the looks of it they had all been sprayed in the face with something, a lot of something. I get downstairs to find Arlo in the laundry room with the spray and wash going nuts!!! He has sprayed it everywhere and thought it would be a fun game to spray all of the kids in the face. So I am freaking out. This is good. I have invited my friends kids over to get Sh--t all over them and while were at it blind them all with a toxic substance. What a great day! I win mom of the year for sure-great Idea to leave the laundry detergent where all of the kids can reach it.

Miracles Do Happen

So this morning something amazing happened. Ginger was doing her usual sniffing routine, the one where I follow her around and watch her like a hawk because I am not sure weather it will lead to her relieving herself on my floor -when she slowly, but deliberately made her way to the back door, scratched and made a little sound indicating she wanted to go out. I about fell over from shock, but I let her out and yes people she went pee! on her very own. Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore puppy potty training torture, we had a breakthrough! finally some light at the end of a very poopy dark tunnel. WHOO HOO!

I cooked A Turkey

Saturday I hosted my first Thanksgiving. I cooked a turkey-yep a 15 pounder! I got lots of advice from magazines, cook books, the Internet, Friends and Moms. I ended up with a tasty bird that turned out quite good for my first try. It took an hour longer than I thought it would (Just as my Mom said) but we did get to eat at some point. I pulled out my Great Grandma Poulsen's China for the occasion and even made some cute little name tag scenarios so people knew where to sit. A few weeks ago I got a weird impulse to paint a turkey on my window along with a cornstalk and a few squashes and pumpkins. I am really starting to freak myself out. Painting thanksgiving themes? Baking turkeys? Making Name tags??? What has happened to me?

Life in the Mom Lane

Well, it has really been crazy around here for the past 2 weeks. Ginger has pretty much turned my entire life upside down and peed on it. Clint was out of town for work last week for 3 days which felt more like 3 weeks. I still don't think I have recovered, and neither has he. It was a Project Managers retreat/boot camp. He had a great time, but was thoroughly worn out by the time he got back. They hiked in Zions, rode ATVs, played cards, exercised excessively at 5am, and lots of other things. I have felt a bit like a crazy dog/kid lady who is slowly slipping into delirium. The other night at 11pm I was wearily watching Ginger while attempting to check my email when she got a sudden case of diarrhea and went all over. I was trying to grab a hold of her and in the process got it all over me and the carpet. At this point I just lost it. Here I was, exhausted, smelly, and sitting amongst poop. I woke Clint up in sobs (what a great way to be woken up) he was very helpful and took Ginger outside right away-I think I had crazed look about me at that point. He has been insanely busy at work-They got like 5 new projects and now that he is the project manager it is his job to make sure everyone has work and that means he needs to delegate and keep it coming. He is trying hard to help me at home as much as he can. It has been long hours for both of us. He is a very attentive daddy and I am so appreciative. The minute he gets home, no matter how tired he is he gives Arlo his full attention and tries to relieve me of my puppy duties. It feels a lot like having a new baby-but I am not quite as crazy as I was then...not yet anyway. I know that Ginger is going to be a great addition to our little family and Arlo just is madly in love with her. He is constantly saying things like "Gingie, I love your cute little body" I think I know where he has heard that saying before (maybe moma has said it to him a few times..)

Welcome to the Family Ginger!

Well we did it! I am thinking we must be crazy but Clint and I decided to get a puppy! Her name is Ginger and she is an adorable 10 week old Boston terrier. I will post pictures soon. Right now I feel like I am in puppy potty training prison but I am sure once this is over I will be very happy we have her. She is a sweet girl and Arlo just loves her. He does seem to have some control issues. He just cant understand why she doesn't do exactly what he tells her to do. I keep reassuring him that she will eventually catch on to what he's trying to tell her to do.Right now she just cocks her cute little head to the side and has a look on her face that seems to say " huh?"

The truth hurts sometimes

Yesterday I was attempting to make dinner and as usual Arlo was following me around saying over and over "Hold me Mama, Hold me!" exasperatedly I replied " Why doesn't Arlo hold Mama, I'm tired" He looked up at me, started giggling and said " Silly Mama, I can't hold you, your to fat!"

Kids Say the Funniest Things

Today Arlo and I were in the Parking Lot at the library and I was getting ready to open the back door of our car when he exclaimed "Watch out Mama, car comin" I turned around and sure enough there was a car whizzing by a bit closer than I would have preferred. I said " Oh, thank you so much Arlo I didn't even see it coming." and he replied " It's Ok Mama, don't Kick your self."

Trick or Treat-I LOVE YOU!

Well Arlo definitely loves Halloween and is a huge fan of the trick or treating thing. He went with his cousins Hayley, Ethan, & Teague. William (Amber & Flints boy) and Matt (Ethans best friend) also came along. We had a very lively group! The costumes were awesome. It took some major coercion on my part to get Arlo to agree to wear his Adorable Scarecrow costume I made him. He had other ideas like spider man, batman or a skeleton. I thought since the kid was only 2 years old I would be safe to dress him in something over the top cutesy for one more year. (Hey- at least he wasn't a duck like last year), but the boy knows what he wants and he is a hard one to talk into things. Next year I will fully relinquish my cutesy mommy costume Ideas and yield to his little boy requests. Once I did get his body stuffed into his scarecrow gear he was good to go! In true Arlo fashion, he was a bit tentative at first. He kind of stayed back to observe how the other kids went about this trick or treating business and then decided he would give it a try. Before we knew what hit us, the kid was acting like he was a pro. He didn't want mommy or daddy to help him. He wanted to carry his own candy bag (which soon became bigger than him) and he was galloping (yes full on trotting!) up to peoples doors. He was yelling Trick or Treat just as loud as he could and when that got dull would throw a few little comments that no one was expecting. My personal favorite was when He yelled "Trick or Treat, I love you!" to an unsuspecting door answerer-you can bet he scored some extra candy there. A few of the times he threw in a "Smell my feet". I wasn't to thrilled about that one but Clint thought it was pretty funny. All and all the night was a huge success. We all had a great time.

Playing in The leaves

Last tuesday Arlo, Hay Hay,ET,Teague and I decided it was a perfect day to rake up all the leaves and have some fun! We got little mini shovels for the baby's, a rake for ET and Hay Hay and a snow shovel for me. In no time at all we had a great little leaf hill. We all took turns taking a running jump into the leaves! even Jazz the dog got into it. Who knew a dog would love jumping in leaves? It was the most beatiful day and we all had so much fun. The babies loved it-Et and Hay Hay showed them how to take a run for it ( They are the best cousins to the babies) and we all took turnes being buried. What a great way to spend and afternoon! Its times like these when I am reminded of what being at home with my boy is all about and how lucky I am to be doing it.