I'm a model. Ya know what I mean...

I went and had pictures taken yesterday. I never knew what a chore that would be. As we were getting dressed I had the thought, hey let's go get our pictures taken. So, I put Sadie in something cute (course that's not hard for her), and asked Keagan if he'd like to get his picture taken. He said yes. Then I had to convince him that he couldn't wear his batman clothes for his pictures, but we made a deal and he packed them in his backpack. They can never be too far. :) It was almost harder for me to get him to comb his hair then it was to change his clothes. BOY that kid is opinionated.

After all this prep, we got in the Jeep and went to Walmart. They had sent a coupon in the mail. Except the Walmart that's closest to us doesn't have a Portrait Studio. So, we packed up and went to Target, where we've done a few other pictures. When we got there it was 930 and nobody was there. We waited for them to open at 10, but found out they were all booked up. I did make an appointment for another day—just in case. Keagan was so excited to get his picture taken though that he refused to give up. He wanted to go someplace else. "Okay." I sighed, and off we went to Sears. They have a great Portrait Studio. When we got there, there was no line, 2 empty studios, but they were waiting on a 1030 appointment to show up. It was 1020. Good thing was they had an open 11 slot. So, we wondered around for 30 minutes and went back. Another 30 minutes went by before we were called. I was super nervous, because Sadie was getting tired at this point. The photographer was great and 10 minutes later we were done. Thirty more minutes later we got to pay and leave.

Check out the results! I was so happy my kids were so happy through the extra long morning.

hodge podge

Hi ya'll. Here's a bunch of fun videos that I've meant to upload but haven't. I'll spare the long descriptions this time around.

Keagan wants to do whatever Zander can do.

Rachel too. Except Rachel is helping to show off Sadie's new skills.

Keagan just can't get enough of his baby sister. So much so, that he's resorted to sleeping in her crib at night. Even funnier still is that Sadie rarely will ever sleep in her own bed.

Why is it that I have two kids who refuse to sleep in their own beds? I paint their rooms all cute, give them night lights and they still refuse to sleep in their beds. :)

Carving pumpkins

Tonight we carved our Halloween pumpkins. We had such a good time! We turned the music up, covered the counter, got out the carving tools and went to town. Zander picked the design for his pumpkin and carved the whole thing by himself! We had to really convince him to stick his hand in the pumpkin to clean it out, though. Mostly by refusing to do it for him. He's such a clean freak! But he's getting so big. Keagan was a big help getting seeds out and giving encouragement to everyone. He's such a big helper. Sadie sucked on the spoon we were using to clean out the pumpkins. Yummy!

Zander has adopted Halloween as his favorite holiday, and following suit, so has Keagan, so we've had to add to our decorations this year. He told us what we had just wouldn't do. So we bought some tombstones and web and decorated the yard. We didn't get the camera out there until it was too dark, so maybe those pics will come after Halloween day and all of us in our costumes!

Hey, Hey I am Monkey!

Grease Monkey that is.

Okay, most of you won't get this blog title. There was a sitcom featuring a band called the Monkey's when I was growing up that I watched a lot. Consequently, the sitcom made the band that went on instead of the other way around. This is part of the chorus line in the opener song/jingle.

So, being unemployed I find plenty of ways to keep myself busy. Or rather people find plenty of ways to keep me busy. "Fix the van" was a chore I had been given by Karma, my mother-in-law. This was supposed to be a simple thing, since the only thing wrong with it was the starter motor needed to be replaced. I had done this with a couple other cars I had while I was a teenager, so I didn't think much of it. Turns out there was a major adventure ahead and I didn't even know it.


First, it turns out the starter was under the driver seat. That was trick to figure out. I googled the problem and found the solution. So with directions and a picture of the starter in hand - literally - I started on the project.

It took me a few hours to get it out, but only about 30 minutes or less to put it back in. After I got the starter replaced and realized the battery was dead. So, I tried to recharge the battery, but it was toasted too. I bought a new battery put it in and started it right up. Dust and crap from almost 2 years of sitting came flying out and filled my garage. Then some whistling started. I thought it might just be the belts trying to work back in. After a couple of seconds smoke started to fill the garage and the whistling stopped. I thought, this can't be good! I used the air hose to blow out all the smoke and then checked the engine. The serpentine belt burned off. CRAP!! something else. I went back to Checker for the 3rd time that day and got a new belt. Came home and tried to figure out how to put it on. That took some time. Once I finally got it on, I tensioned it back down and started the van up. No squealing this time, then snap! the belt broke again, after just a few seconds of being on. Puzzled, I looked over the belt route and noticed a burn mark on the alternator wheel. Turns out the Alternator had seized. Great.


The tale just keeps going on like this.

You make funny faces hun.

Earlier this week I was trying to make dinner and Sadie was dying of hunger - so what's new. And I had the thought, "Hey Zander, wanna try feeding Sadie?" He was all to excited to try it out. I took a second to show him how and he was good. Check out this video. He was so cute and Sadie loved being fed by him.

Bid this farewell

Get your own graph at skinnyr

I made my goal! And since you can't really read it on the side of my blog anyway (because it's so small), I'm getting rid of the graph I've had to help encourage me to loose my baby weight. I now officially weigh what I did when I got married. Thank you. =) And say goodbye to my lovely graph.

holding on to my ding-a-ling

Wow. So, Zander is feeling much better and ready to go back to school. He's feeling so much better, that he is sticking Keagan in the laundry basket and pushing him down the stairs. Keagan is doing the same to Zander. Too funny!!

Oh, the title you ask...go Google Chuck Berry's song, My Ding-a-ling and you'll get it. It's a song I learned as a teen that my Dad introduced my to, which incedently became my friend's and my favorite song.

Here's a great video Clip. Oh, and here's a link to Chuck Berry's video of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MLBfwblps8