I know.

I have been a horrible blogger and practically non-existent as a photographer. And I have been even worse at visiting and seeing what all my bloggy friends are up to. I am trying very hard to get back into some sort of routine but instead of getting easier, it seems more and more impossible. Maybe our routine, that “normal,” just doesn’t exist any more.

Anyhow, this week we are back to bullet points because despite my attempt to carve out some time for this, I have about five minutes to try to document everything from the past week. So bullets it is…

• All of our October commitments are finally finished. The Pumpkin Patch at Addie’s school – The Fall Carnival at Em’s school. The past few weeks have been crazy with obligations (mostly mine because I cannot say no) for both of them. But they are done. Bring on November, I say.



• And I have a very good start on Halloween costumes. What? I have nearly 24 hours before Em needs hers for school! Plenty of time. We are having a little Halloween party for Addie and a few of her friends because they do not get to dress up at school. So I have at least 30-ish hours for hers. I’m mostly re-purposing old costumes for them, so really it should be easy.
• Despite all of my complaining about craziness, we have been able to have a little fun this past week. J’s mom and friend are here and have afforded us cheap babysitters for two different evenings out in the past four days. (Thanks, Debby & Barb!)
• First up, gotta give props to U2 and Sunday night’s concert. Incredible. They are one band who can pull off a huge stadium crammed with 95,000+ fans and still put on a great show. And the Black Eyed Peas opened for them and I didn’t realize how much I liked them until after I saw them either. Great show!
• And we got to be totally spontaneous this week, too! J. called me (very) last minute on Tuesday because he had scored tix to the Lakers season opener. That was pretty fun, too. I liked people watching (trying to spy celebrities) and um…watching the Lakers win too, of course.
• Addie has decided she is going to be a veterinarian when she grows up. But she doesn’t want to help snakes. When we asked her if she wanted to work with small animals like cats and dogs (knowing full well this was probably the case) or big animals, like elephants and other animals at the zoo, she said, “only little animals like bunnies, kitties and baby elephants!”

• We have pumpkins to carve still. Blech. I hate the pumpkin guts.
• 55 days til Christmas, just in case you were unaware and haven’t visited the Hallomas (or Christoween) decorations at Target.  Addie was very concerned when we were in Target one day and she thought she had missed Halloween. “Mama? Did Halloween already go by? Is it Christmas now?” I had to stop and reassure myself that it was indeed a few weeks BEFORE Halloween, and yes, there are Christmas decorations out already. Poor Thanksgiving. It really does get the shaft.
• I have, however, started Christmas shopping and craft planning for gifts. So I feel a little smug and cocky.
• Ah, don’t worry. I’ll be behind again by the time next week rolls around.

Happy Thursday, everyone.

Limping, crawling, dragging…

…but, hey! We are here. Sheeeweeew. It has been a really long week.

Let’s kick off This & That with our crazy Addie expression for the week:

I know it isn’t really in focus, but trying to capture all of her crazy faces, while she is moving at the speed of light, is a feat all unto itself.

My happiest moment this week? Monday night around 7:30pm when Addie’s mouth finally stopped moving. I know, I know…someday I’m going to miss this. But! Oh.My.Peas. Seriously?

Ad didn’t have school, but Em did, so Addie just followed me around and talked. Non-stop. We were in JoAnn Fabrics right when they opened, so we were the only ones in the store. And I kid you not, when we got up to the checkout the salesperson was cracking up when she said, “Wow, did she have some coffee this morning or what? It is only 9:30am and she is good to go!” She did not stop talking the entire time.

And then we went over to do our bi-monthly Costco run, and the running commentary just continued. There was a brief respite when Em got home, but…CHATTERBOX! Wow.

And then Wednesday was Em’s day with no school due to Parent/Teacher conferences. There was much less chattiness with Em, and she was just thrilled to pieces when her two friends got to come over and relieve her from spending time with her MOM!

Or maybe she just still traumatized by me taking her on California Screamin’ at Disneyland last weekend. Hee. It is a very fun rollercoaster and Em asked me while we were in line, “Does this go upside down, Mama?” I told her I didn’t think so, but I had never been on it before.

It does. Of course. After we did the upside-down loop she said to me, “Mama?! Did we go upside-down?” I said, “Yeah! Did you miss it?”

“I think I had my eyes closed. It was scary. I don’t like the upside-down, but I do like the fast up and down parts.”

That’s my girl.

The past two days have been awesome, very atypical, fall-like weather for Southern California. We had some storms! It was really nice to have a few days of chilly, rainy weather and it was satisfying to pull out the ‘ol sweaters.

Of course, all I really wanted to do was curl up in front of the fire and finish reading my books. I’m re-reading the Harry Potter series – it is even better the second third time around. I keep trying to assess whether they are too dark to start reading to Em. I can’t wait to read them with her! Although we have been reading Little House on the Prairie, and there are some pretty serious parts in there. Like Indian attacks, massacres, etc. I had forgotten about most of that (it was at least 25 years ago when I last read them!) and I cannot just skip over things anymore, either. “Eagle-eyed” Emma will correct me if I dare try to “trim” off any words.

And if I can just brag for a moment? She is reading at a 3rd grade reading level. And is plowing through her timed math tests. And will be in the group that gets a specialized spelling test each week – because the normal one is too easy. Miss Smartypants. Her teacher basically said in her conference today, “Um, I don’t really have anything I need you to work on with her. Just keep doing what you are doing.”

That is validating, for sure. And I’m very proud of her. My friend Jamie said, “She is like a mushroom. She can be shut in a dark place given a little water and she will still thrive.”

So very true. Only it is Addie we need to shut in a dark place for bit. My ears are still ringing. Or maybe it is Harry Potter calling to me. Or maybe I’m just very, very tired.

Happy Thursday to you all…

Mmmmwwwaaahh!