I'm raising the cuteness factor

{but I may be a tad biased}

Don't say I didn't warn you...

P.S. You may also find yourself succumbing to optical overstimulization - I couldn't make a decision.

Told you.

Mad Dash Monday

I was finally able to get some nice weather to get a photoshoot done with our family and with a friend of mine who wanted me to get pictures done for them for Christmas cards... This afternoon I have another one, which includes a pregnant mommy so I am totally looking forward to some uber fun shots!

Met a spunky, spry lady who is a patient at the doctor's office I work at.  She was born in 1919! If her husband had not passed away last month they would have been married 68 years this week.  Wow!  When I grow up I wanna be just like her!

I'm needing to find a new sitter for my kids for the couple hours after school I still work.  My sitter has had a rough go this Fall with her parents: her mom just had surgery and her dad was diagnosed with agressive cancer.  She was not only my sitter but is also my friend.

The engine mount on the regurjamobile {aka my car} is the newest thing to be added to the ever growing list of needs.  If this car were a horse I would be taking it out to shoot so we could put it out of its misery.  However, this weekend, we (meaning a friend of ours) may have discovered why the car is surging.  I simply need to wait for my husband to get back home so he can change those parts and see.  Fingers crossed {if I believed that that would work}.

Signs my children are growing older

My youngest son, Bug, just finished studying for his first school exam EVER.  It is in Social Studies.

Jellybean just spent the evening cleaning and re-organizing her room.  She did a fabulous job! She even threw stuff out and for this de-cluttering mama, she made my heart skip a beat. {wink}

Rush is preparing to go to a kegger.  She thinks I don't know. HaHa!

Jellybean has begun doing her own laundry and has been doing a great job of it - other than banging the heck out of the top of the washing machine, thinking it was broken when all along she simply had not pulled the button out.

Bug has been going through growing pains of his own - with choosing who he should and should not spend a lot of time with, as far as influences.  Yes, some of you might think that at 7 years old there is no way we should be putting that on him and, in a sense, you are correct.  However, we will sit with him and discuss things and ask him questions to see if he thinks they are really people he wants to spend a lot of time with.  We never tell him he can't spend anytime with them but we get our children to decide if they like the person they are, things they do and attitudes they come home with if they spend too much time with particular people and then we get them to figure out if they think they should spend less time with them or not.  I don't think it is ever to early to guide your children into personal accountability. {thoughts?}

Note: I've been quite busy lately - mainly "mind busy" and I notice that I really haven't been my usual funny self.  I've said this before but it was coming back... I don't know if I am feeling pressure to write so I just write and don't worry about what I say or what but I wanna get the fun back in dysFUNctional. {grin}



Anywhoodles, I am going to bed.  Tomorrow begins the start of a new week, new adventures, new projects and new visions... I may need my rest. {wink}

98 Days

until Christmas Day.  I am not including today because it's half over.

I don't know about you, but I don't plan on going overboard with gifts this year.  We never really have in our family.  Christmas, to us, is so much more than the gifts.  Don't get me wrong; we still buy gifts but we most certainly do not go into debt overspending.

Our children will get gifts from us - some practical and some fun.  The older kids will probably get gift cards. Impersonal?  Maybe. But they are out and on their own and have a much better idea of what they will need or want than we will(and let's not forget know proper sizing) and I am not one for buying something just because it is on sale and I can give it to everyone.

My dad doesn't like us spending money on him... so, for our parents we take nice pictures of the kids or the whole family and, there you have it, a nice, inexpensive gift they will enjoy.  Christmas cards this year will be the same as last... I am taking the kids out, hopefully tomorrow, and having a nice photoshoot with them in order to get our cards ordered.

B.D. & I, I don't know what we are going to do for each other this year or if we will get a shared gift for each other or if we will just put money on a bill and say "Merry Christmas". I'm really beyond that this year.  I really just want to get our one last debt paid and get some money saved to buy me a better car.  (I am tired of the regurgamobile and ALL of its many problems)

Anywho, this whole post wound up way more serious than I intended for it - I think I am suddenly in need of a nap {grin}.  What do you do to plan for Christmas?  To keep it within budget? Are you an early shopper? A Christmas Eve shopper?  Did I catch you off guard with the whole 98 day thing (which by the way I had to count to see how many actual days there were left)?

Fare Thee Well Summer. It's Been a Slice...

We've had loads of fun this summer.

Picnics with friends

Scootering (is that really a word?)

Biking (after getting it back from the thief who *ahem* borrowed it)

 Hiking (on the swinging bridge)

 Fishing 

Canoing (and boating)

We leap into Fall and a great start to another uber great school year and another uber great season!

Thanks for all the fun, Summer 2010; you were great while you were here.

We have dubbed this summer the year of the splash park but as it was the sitter who took the kids while I was at work, there are no pictures.

At the car wash

My children were involved in a car wash about a month ago. {yes, I realize I am slow.  Do you realize it will be Oct before I get my first day of school pics up? I aim to be consistent - consistently behind seems to be the flow right now. grin}

I will let the pictures do the talking...

There were several children there helping but I only wanted to put pictures up here of if other people's children weren't facing the camera.

I Am

Canadian  Well, yes I am Canadian but what I meant to type was...

I am a ninja.  I know.  You all ready knew that.  It's pretty hard to keep something like that a secret.  Me and Clark Kent have bonded many times trying to figure out new ways to keep our identities secret.  Anywhoodles, here is how I became known as a ninja (I am a particular "brand" of ninja too).

Bug and his friends have gotten into a stage of life where all they want to do is play ninja.  Tonight, as I was tucking Bug in bed he said "Mom when I was opening my eyes, you looked like a ninja."  "Buddy," I said, "I am a ninja."  His eyes grew big as saucers and he said, "You are!?!!?"

"Yes, baby, I am.  I'm a mommy ninja."

"That's so cool, mom. I kinda thought so..." And off he went to sleep, knowing he was well protected by {insert cheesy super hero music here} Mommy Ninja...?  Mama Ninja...?  Ninja Mom...?  Ninjommy?