Only Because Noah Asked Me To

Noah has no idea how much he will hate videos like this in the future but since he asked for it to be posted to the blog it's now available for your viewing pleasure. Noah would like to know if you thought it was funny so please take the survey to your left after your done watching it.

Brotherly Love???

Ollie went potty so I asked him to wash his hands. I stepped out (I've really got to stop doing this) to get a clean hand towel but along the way got "mommy distracted" - you know, heading to the linens to get a clean towel, trip on shoes left in hallway so pick those up, while headed to shoe box, realize that someone spilled his water on the floor so you grab a rag to wipe that up, while right there pick up the two books and toss them back into the bookshelf then realize what your first task was and head back to the bathroom. ANYWAY, I go back to the bathroom and hear the electric toothbrush which isn't normally a big deal. Oliver has his own and loves to brush his teeth whenever he's given the opportunity. I come around the corner and see Oliver with a HUGE grin on his face and his brothers electric toothbrush in his ear. I believe that Oliver knew exactly what he was doing - the smile/smirk/devilish grin gave it all away. I'm wondering now if this is why Noah was complaining of a sour taste on his toothbrush last night.

Note: For all that are wondering, yes, I did tell Noah. I promised him a trip to the store to get a new toothbrush sometime this weekend. He was, rightly so, pretty upset when I told him and instructed me to, "put him back in his room RIGHT NOW!" Maybe I'll post a picture of Noah with his new toothbrush later this weekend.

The Power of Big Brothers

Noah loves to just chill and have a few moments to himself in his room. He will curl up on his bed with a bunch of blankets, pillows, etc., grab a snack and watch a video. Well, yesterday Oliver kept asking me to put in a video, Ben 10, to be exact which is one of Noah's favorites right now. I kept pushing him towards Blues Clues or Wiggles, you know something more his age. He was just getting mad at me and kept handing me Ben 10 so I relented and put in Ben 10 for him. I went off to fold some laundry and heard Oliver rustling around in the cupboards. No biggie, my cupboards are his cupboards so I kept folding laundry. After a few more minutes I went to check on him and found him curled up on brothers bed with a bunch of blankets, pillows, etc., eating a snack of Cheerios and watching a video. You know just chilling and having a few moments to himself. A serious case of deja vu!

Having Fun

I've been stumped about what to do for Oliver's birthday invitations...until today. Oliver loves his animal books and he loves to make all the noises that go with them so we got out our supplies this morning and made these. I kept it simple so that Ollie could help me some, he especially liked the tape/adhesive part of the project. We still have to figure out when and where and get that put inside but the hard part is done.

More Fall Photos

I thought it was interesting that this tiny little leaf found it's way to the top of this small mushroom.

Draw Palm!

Kelly, from the Kanthak Karate class, snapped this picture of Noah doing the "draw palm" move. Noah says, "that was the right draw palm with left foot. Mr K. is a good teacher."

Pumpkin Patch 2007

We met up with my brother and his friend, Sharon, and her two boys Jake and Ryan at the Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch. We got there early and the fog had still not burnt off. It made for some interesting pictures. I love the pumpkin patch time of year. I even managed to remember to get a family picture this time around. We took a ton of pictures so here a few plus some more.

It was a foggy morning

Is that the perfect pumpkin?

Cute pumpkins

Playing on the hay pyramid
Oliver shielding his eyes from the non-existent sun

Our big boy

Resting by the friendly scarecrow
My little "Son"flowers

End of season for the flowers

Many Ideas

I am doing everything but what I should be doing today, so with that being said: A friend of mine, Candy, introduced me to yet another blog for me to "check out." It's an incredible blog with a ton of incredible ideas for your scrapbook. I took one of her ideas, put my own twist on it and posted it below. But here's the catch, looking through your child's, grandchild's, niece's, nephew's, etc. eyes what would you want to see stopped? I had many things that I could have listed but picked these few words. Let me know what words you would've used on your page.

Sometimes It's Just Fun

Sometimes it's just fun to play with your camera's features and get a few fun shots of your kids. Or in my case, about 60 shots in under 20 minutes. Keep that shutter clicking and you end up with a few good ones in the bunch. These are a couple of my favorites from both the black and white and sepia features. Are you smiling yet?

Painting

I made a quick trip up to my sister's new house this weekend. They got the okay to paint so I went up to help. Check out her blog for a few pictures. I loved all the colors that she picked out and liked them even more when I realized that they were all food related names: Divine Macadamia, Warm Nutmeg (my favorite) and Green Tea. I left before the main room was done but I got a call shortly after arriving telling me that they got it all done.

Look! Oliver Got His Teeth

Kids

So I picked Noah up from Mandarin Chinese class this afternoon, it was almost surreal to listen to a room full of first graders responding to the teacher in Chinese. Surreal but VERY cool. So as we were walking out I was asking Noah how to say a few things and our part of conversation went like this...

Me: Did you have fun learning Chinese?
Noah: Yes, but I'll need a lot of practice.
Me: That's what learning a new language is all about. How do you say hello or hi in Chinese?
Noah: Knee-how. (I am obviously spelling phonetically here)
Me: Knee-how?
Noah: Yes, knee-how, that's what I said.
Me jokingly: So if I wanted to say hi to a cow I would say Knee-how brown cow?
Noah MOST seriously: No, mom there is only one way to say hi to a cow.
Me laughing now: Really? Only one way?
Noah even more serious than before: YES mom it's...MOO.

At this point I'm laughing so hard that I darn near lose Oliver in the parking lot. So there you have it folks, no matter what language you speak you can always say hi to a cow.

For Stephanie

My friend Stephanie and I end up at Gustav's quite often. She has mentioned, on more than one occasion, that they used to have great Pumpkin Martinis during Oktoberfest but they don't seem to offer that drink anymore. Well, I got my Rachael Ray magazine today and in it is a recipe for Pumpkin Martinis! They may not be exactly the same but these look pretty yummy. So Steph, this one is for you.

Pumpkin Pie Martinis
Makes 2 drinks
********************
Ice Cubes
2 ounces (1/4 cup) vanilla vodka
2 ounces (1/4 cup) creme de cacao
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Whipped cream, for garnish
********************
1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice cubes. Add the vanilla vodka, creme de cacao, heavy cream and pumpkin pie spice and shake well.
2. Dip the rims of 2 martini glasses into a bowl of whipped cream. Strain the cocktail into the glasses.

Milestones

Just a quick update. Oliver is getting his two year molars. One has busted through those tough gums of his and the other three are nicely swollen. I'd recommend buying stock in Tylenol since I am sure it's value will increase over the next few weeks.

Noah is doing great in Karate! I cannot tell you how impressed I am with Mr. K's teaching style and curriculum. He teaches them so much more than just how to be a punk who knows how to punch. Also, Noah put his name into a lottery at school and his name was one of the ones that got picked for a Mandarin Chinese Language Class. Noah's first class is today after school. I'm not sure how intense the class is but Noah is excited and says if this doesn't work out then he will just learn French. I say learn them both!

Anyway, that's it not a lot of big news but it makes all of you seem so much closer when I do share the little stuff...even if you are miles away.

Look At What I Got Today

What a great way to start October! My adorable niece, Brelynne and her handsome brother, Brandon sent me, okay all of us, some cookies and I, I mean we, can't wait to eat them! Bre also colored a picture for each of us and like all good artists do, signed them all. Her handwriting is quite impressive. Thank you, your package made my day!