It’s that time of year…

That time of year when the kids are in 8 billion extra-curricular activities and we have someplace to be or somewhere to go every night of the week AND on weekends. And then there’s the usual family fall stuff, like pumpkin patches, preparing for Halloween, etc. As much as I love this time of year, it also completely exhausts me. LOL!

That being said, it was a really busy weekend for us. Grace had a 3-hour Brownie hike on Saturday, so my mom and I took Hannah to a local pumpkin patch. The “problem” was that the next day, Grace wanted to go to the pumpkin patch too, so we took both girls on Sunday. We were there for hours both days, and to say that I’ve had my fill of pumpkin patch activities for the year 2008 would be an understatement of huge proportions. LOL!

But at least I got some great photos, right? I didn’t upload the pictures from our day there on Sunday when Grace was along, but I have some from the day just Hannah was there with us.

I’ll post the ones of Grace later. Wait until you see her face painting from that day. LOL! ;)

And yet, in the middle of our craziness this weekend, I managed to get some more layouts done, which is cool.

So I guess that’s it for now. Later tonight, we’ll discuss how I’ve become a TOTAL computer geek in terms of Firefox add-ons. Seriously. It’s become a sickness. Good times, I tell ya…

Later gang!

And now onto the school pictures…

On Monday, Grace started second grade and Hannah started kindergarten (ACK!!!)! Both of them (thankfully) were excited to go, so they were both up at 4:30 in the morning, raring to go. Zzzzz….

Anyway, here are some pictures from that morning, while they were waiting for the school bus. :)

I can’t believe I have two school-aged kids! I feel so old! LOL! I’m happy to report though, that they both LOVED their first day, and today went well too. :)

And with that, I’m off to bed with one last beer and a good book. Ahhhh….

My Little, um... Model?

So yesterday, I was cleaning the house like it’s never been cleaned before. Steve spent the entire day down in the garage, grinding the rust off of a coal stoker we’re going to install before the winter (oil is too expensive anymore).

So at one point, the girls decided they wanted to go hang out "down back" with Daddy. Awesome. We told them that if they had any plans to go into the stream, that they needed to wear their fishing boots. I also told Hannah she had to change her clothing, since she was wearing good stuff.

So off she goes upstairs and came down about 15 minutes later (clothing decisions are always hard for her... LOL!). She looked, um, interesting? {shaking head} The kid kills me. Here's her attire for a day in the yard...

After I took this first photo, she told me she wanted to "pose." No shock there. The kid LOVES the camera and works it like it's her job.

Um, I need to work with her on what constitutes a "cool" pose I think, no? LOL!

I almost forgot…

In all the excitement of Em and Tracey being here over the weekend, I forgot to inform the world that Hannah lost her second tooth! It’s been loose for awhile now, and on Friday, she just reached into her mouth at daycare and pulled the sucker out! LOL!

And here’s another picture of her this morning. She was determined to match her cheetah. So they’re both wearing white shirts, jeans, and a sheer pink dance skirt over the top. (Yes, she’s wearing jeans too.) The kid went to daycare like that. She seriously kills me. {shaking head}

PS: I know this photo is a bad one. Focus is off, color casts, etc. But she was literally walking out the door for daycare and I pulled her back in so I could snap the picture.

Anyway, I need to shower now and get moving on some work I have to do. I’ll be back later. :)

Quote of the Day:
There should be no yelling in the home unless there is a fire.
--David Oman McKay

Braids, braids, braids!

Yesterday, my mom took the girls to see the new American Girl Doll movie that’s out in the theatres. They were so excited to go! They even both took their American Girl Dolls with them and wanted me to braid all of their hair. LOL!

They ended up loving it, which is cool.

Later that night, Hannah decided she wanted tiny little braids all over her head. Um, great. Sigh. So I spent the next hour and a half putting braids in her hair for daycare today.

And then she decided she was a rock star.

That’s right folks… from sweet little girl with her doll to head-banging rock star in the span of 24 hours. Great.

The Alien Night Life

So I know that many (if not all) of you sit around on a regular basis, wondering what me and my little Alienettes are doing. Well, last night, I decided to document, in photos, what a typical evening is like around here. So grab a drink (it’s a long one, folks), sit back, and prepare to be thankful you don’t live here with us.

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It all started when both girls decided to play dress up. This, in and of itself, is weird. Hannah plays dress up ALL the time. But Grace? HELL no. It’s not her thing. Why? Well, because, generally speaking, it’s a girly thing. But for some reason, last night, she decided she wanted to dress up like a rock star, just like Hannah.

So they busted out Hannah’s Cheetah Girls dress up kit and had at it. Great. They both looked cute… it kept them occupied… etc. Then they grabbed Grace’s drum and Hannah’s (working) microphone and put on a little concert for me. Here, my friends, is where it quickly went downhill…

First up was Grace. Now keep in mind that the shirt she’s wearing is supposed to cover her stomach (LOL!), but when you’re the size of a 9-year-old, you’re kind of shit out of luck when it comes to these things. I also like the creative genius who strung the bracelets on the fake necklaces. BRILLIANT!

Next up was Hannah. As can be seen by the look on her face, she was dead serious about the whole thing. It was like she was channeling Hannah Montana’s spirit.

Sing it like you wrote it, girlfriend! WOOHOO!!!

Then it was Grace’s turn again. By this point (about 5 minutes later), she had lost the serious side of her rockstar debut and morphed back into the Grace I love. How, you ask? Why, by singing a song about farting, of course. Because nothing says rock star like flatulence does. I will give her credit though. She acted it all out too by making farting noises and holding the microphone at her ass.

And then she tried to hang herself because the fake farts smelled so bad.

Not to be outdone by her big sister, Hannah sang HER farting song next. They made me so proud, I actually got a little teary. [happy sigh]

Hannah decided that pointing at the culprit would further get her point across. Because otherwise, how would the audience know where that awful smell was coming from.

Hers were so bad, that she skipped the hanging and went right to the pass-out. Nice.

We administered CPR and she was fine. Then it was time to jump. Because what’s more fun than random jumping?

OMG! What IS that? Hannah or a freaky-ass bird?

Grace threw in some of her gymnastics skills and really impressed the spectators.

Now Hannah’s bored and pissed because she can’t perform the same jumping skills as her sister. However, she CAN “belly dance” and suck her stomach in enough to see every damn bone and muscle in her naval. Frankly, it’s disgusting and a sure sign that this child’s mother isn’t feeding her properly and she’s malnourished. It’s a tragedy really…

But that wasn’t getting enough attention, so she moved on to the couch performance.

RUN!

ROLL!

CRASH!

Pass out again. (Hey, it’s tiring being this entertaining.)

While Hannah was performing her sofa gymnastics, Grace had left the room. I assumed she was taking her intermission break, but shortly after Hannah’s second collapse, Grace wandered back into the room. Apparently, Hannah’s belly dancing had inspired her and she pulled out a few belly tricks of her own. That’s right folks. She had drawn a face on her stomach. I, personally, was just relieved to find out that she hadn’t used the permanent black Sharpie that I thought she had.

Cute little bugger, isn’t he?

You know where this is leading, right? There was no way Hannah was letting her sister steal the spotlight again. Enter Belly Friend #2.

Look mom! It’s TWINS!

Hey sis, I love ya, but can you stop squashing my face, please?

After that, it got out of hand (Ya think?) and I had to put the camera down, bring things back down to a dull roar, and, um, give the girls a bath.

So there you have it. A fairly typical night in the House of the Aliens. The activities vary, but they almost all, at some point, involve farting, burping, inappropriate behavior on the furniture, and things that end up making a bath or shower mandatory.

Sooo… who wants to come visit and bring your kids? There’s plenty of markers here for everyone…