Girlfriend

Last night, Steven was introducing Patrick to Star Wars. We got to the part where Anakin was kissing Amadala (I have become such a geek). Both of the kids screamed "ewwww" at the kissing part.

Patrick was sitting in my lap, so I asked him if he had a girlfriend. He said, "no, I got Maggie".

Spider-Man and captain america

Jude and Patrick are both really into dressing up in costumes. The first thing Patrick asks me each morning is if he can wear his Halloween costume.

Last night, we went to Jude's house while Steven went to men's bible study. Jude immediately put on his captain America costume so Patrick borrowed a Spider-Man mask.

They were low crawling around the house and shooting bad guys with guns made from Legos.

I tried to take a few pictures of the super heroes. This is what I got! Jude was way more cooperative in this process.

35

This morning Steven brought breakfast to our family. Patrick only fought with me a little bit about not wearing his captain America costume to sandee's house. Sandee gave me a big hug when she picked up Patrick for day care. And Starbucks wished me a happy birthday with a huge free drink. 35 is looking pretty good so far.

Mine vs. his

I find my kids adorable and hilarious. There are some distinct differences in their personalities and those differences point to me or to their father.

Mine:
1. Patrick loves all animals. When we see one on a billboard or walking down the street, he says, "awwww....cute". He tries to pick up both of the cats and he is always running around with copper. Yesterday, sparky didn't want to be dragged around the house by a three year old. Patrick was so offended and started to cry. He said,"I just want the kitty".

2. My kids love popcorn. I suggested a movie night in the living room last night since it was chilly and overcast. They both started asking for popcorn immediately. They each want their own bowls and ask for popcorn almost every day. In fact, Patrick asked for popcorn this morning for breakfast.


His:
1. My kids have some dancing skillz. If there is any music on, they are both dancing. Maggie is usually doing the "daddy dance". Patrick does a bird flapping jump kind of thing.

Last weekend, we were in the car and I was being "d.j. Jazzy Beth" and taking song requests. Patrick kept asking for the song, "call me maybe". He loves dancing to it.

Maybe they will grow up to be semi normal adults even with our influence over them.

Paging Dr. Cole

Steven called me today with some excellent news. He applied for a scholarship to get his doctorate degree and (pending a few things) he got the scholarship. He is going to start taking doctorate level classes in the fall and he got a big scholarship to help pay for it.

I met him at the parking lot before I went to get Patrick and I told him how proud I was of him. He has started taking his leveling classes already. He gets up before the rest of us to study and read. He goes to bed early now so he can get up earlier. It is not a burden on our time as a family for him to be in school and I appreciate him doing these things so much.

I bought him some orange creamsicle gum today. He looked surprised and I told him that it reminded me of him when we were first dating. He always had this orange and cream hard candy. He was surprised that I remembered that from 12 years ago.

Twelve years ago. We have been together for twelve years. We are grown ups. SometimesI am shocked to see myself getting into my Volvo station wagon. It is such a grow up car. We have grown up in so many ways. Now, he is getting his doctorate. I am so proud of him.

Slushy magic

Today, I dressed my kids in matching Halloween shirts. They were so cute that I had to take a picture of them.

Then, I went to work and did worky things.

Then, I went to CVS and I decided to use my CVS extra care bucks on something I wanted. I wandered around for a while. Then, I spotted it. A slushy magic cup. It was $14.99. I justified the purchase by using my extra care bucks and a $5 off coupon. It was a steal.

I came home to put an ice cold coke zero in my slushy magic cup. Guess what? It was moldy. The cup and the "ice cubes" were moldy. I was so disappointed.

I took Patrick back to CVS and returned the slushy magic cup. There weren't any other ones so I just got my money back. Patrick talked me into buying him a new tow truck. He was so cute and even thanked the cashier for his new truck. So, I left disappointed but Patrick was happy so that made things better.

I decided to goggle slushy magic cups this afternoon. There were lots of parents out there trying to figure out how to replicate slushy magic without paying $14.99 for it.

I found this website. http://flowersandflour.blogspot.com/2011/08/homemade-slushie-magic.html

She basically takes 2 ziploc bags, rock salt, ice and made a slushy magic at home. So, I tried it. It works.

I was  worried about having my own slushy magic cup, honestly, because I figured my kids would always want to use it. But, now we can all make slushies and Patrick got a tow truck, too.

My month long birthday

Steven is always teasing me about my need to celebrate my birthday for a whole month. I have really decided to embrace my month long celebration.

When I woke up this morning, my inbox was filling up with birthday wishes and coupons from different stores and restaurants. I am going to try to take full advantage of these freebies right away.

October is going to be legen....wait for it....dary.

My first celebratory event was lunch at red robin. I got a free hamburger and side salad. Then, they brought out an ice cream sundae. If you look at the picture, you can see that Steven is already trying to dive into "my sundae".

Let's see how awesome October can be!