mommypalooza™ ~ a daily dose of mommy mayhem.

I am the winning-est person I know.

I just won a small tray of Chick-Fil-A nuggets online! They're sending me the certificate in the mail. All I gots to say is "YUM-O!!"

Halloween Party

Nathan, Will and I were invited to a fabulous Halloween party this morning with our friends Heidi, Liam, and Elena. We all had such a great time. Will mostly played, nursed, played again, then fell asleep although he did manage to grab onto a glass bowl filled with apple wedges on the countertop and drop it to the ground. Yes, it shattered. I feel awful about it but Heidi won't allow me to replace it for her. I guess technically it's Will's fault (even though I was the one holding him) so he should be barred from her household....not me!

Anyway, Nathan had a great time running around with the kiddos there and decorating cookies, doing foamie projects, eating, etc. At one point the kids, who were ALL on a sugar high, were running around the house (some half naked in their underwear) yelling "Buoy! Buoy!" and screaming! Actually not sure if they were yelling that or "Boo-ey! Boo-ey!" (as in Halloween "boo"). I know that N8 walks around saying the word "buoy" from the Little Einsteins video but, again, not sure who started the whole thing.

At any rate, I was having a jolly 'ol time talking to the moms about Food Network, housecleaning, and Listeria, not to be confused with Wisteria [Lane from Desperate Housewives.]

I did manage to snap a few pics while there though!

An avocado a day….

Will and I shared an avocado today. Actually, I ate most of it. I could totally eat avocado right off the skin every single day! Anyway, he swallowed a little more than a quarter sized amount total. I think he tolerated it fairly well considering it was his first time.

I was happy to finish the rest of it off for him! YUM-O!

Some people have NO idea what it really means to be a mother.

I was reading In Touch magazine today while in the waiting area of N8's haircut place and read a quote on Jessica Simpson about her new dog, Daisy.

"She goes with me everywhere. It's preparing for motherhood, I think."

Does she even know what it's like to be a mom? My dogs are near non-existent in my house so I beg to differ that having dogs is anything like being a mother. I mean, just because her vagina goes everywhere with her too doesn't prepare her for motherhood necessarily and that's certainly more related to being a mother than a damn dog!

Love her to pieces but I pity her future children.

Mr. Strong Legs

Will has taken to trying to get up on his legs lately. It scares the dickens out of me as I am afraid he'll take a tumble forward but hasn't yet. He literally props himself up and will attempt to balance on his feet but can't quite figure out how to fully extend his legs to make them straight. Not sure yet how I feel about his attempts to stand!

Cookie Mission complete.

The cookie baking activity was literally an all day event here today. After having our usual every-other-Friday playgroup over at our place on this rainy morning, I was exhausted but I had already promised Nathan we'd bake cookies. William was feeling a little under the weather so it was difficult to say the least. We kept having to mix the dough then I'd stop to tend to Will, mix again, stop, etc. You get the picture. By the time we got to decorate cookies it was 7 pm! This was mostly because Nathan napped from about 3 - 6:30 pm.

It was a fun but tiring day. Will needed so much extra hugs and attention (and booger wiping) so it was trying on all of us today. I'm surprised I even had a chance to snap a few pics.

N8's favorite part about baking. Hmmm...wonder who he takes after?

"The big ball!" as N8 referred to it.

Cookie writing is so much fun!

They're no HC cookies but, hey, I was working with a 3 year-old!

"YUM-O!"

A letter to my Grandma.

Dear Grandma,

Today would've been your 89th birthday celebration. It's been three long years since you've been gone and I miss having you for so many reasons. On the one hand it feels as though it's been so fast. It seems like you've been gone longer. On the other hand it seems as though time is dragging because it seems like it was just last month when I visited Austin and came to your warm, cozy house and you made me fresh tortillas and told me to get a drink out of the fridge (in Espanol).

I miss your potato and egg tacos and your beans with carnita.

I miss how we'd sit and watch Univision (Spanish TV) and laugh at all the wuercos fregados running around on the funny game shows. I'd get all into the show and then look over at you in the rocker nodding off. You'd then catch me looking at you and sit up real quick and take a laugh at yourself for falling asleep.

Then there were those times where we'd walk across 7th Street to H-E-B for bread, coffee, bananas, "post toasties", and whatever else you needed. You'd always let me buy anything I wanted, too. Usually it was a soda or some other sugary treat. Yes, even in my late twenties I could feel myself being spoiled by my "Granny Goodwish".

I miss your little house on Gonzales St. I miss that I'll never set foot in there again. I miss that creaky floor that sounds as you walk through the back to the bathroom. I miss playing drive-thru at the kitchen window and making mud pies on the side of the house when I was a kid.

I miss helping you pick and peel pecans from those beautiful, strong trees in your old yard. I wouldn't do that with anyone else; I don't care for pecans.

I miss your warm, soft, wrinkly brown hands rubbing mine and stroking my face.

I miss your smile; your contagious laughter. Once you started laughing and got on a roll, you just made me crack up. I'd be totally in tears and we'd be laughing at the silliest things on TV or anywhere else.

I miss you showing me all of your beautiful sewing projects and bags of fabrics and materials.

I miss you humming or whistling softly for no apparent reason all throughout your house. I find myself doing that all the time and I think of you.

I miss how you'd get all nervous looking when I'd attest to the fact that, yes, I am going to have to get back on an airplane to get back home. You'd remind me every time how you'd never been on a plane and that you were too scared to ever go on one. "Ai, Dios mio!" You'd make me say I was going to be careful and call you when I got back home so you'd know I was okay. I always did.

I miss your blessing, "Que Dios de bendiga, mija" as I'd leave your house.

I miss our tradition of waving and yelling "BYEEEEEEEEEEE" out the car window each and every time we pulled out of the driveway. It's a tradition my kids have started with my parents now.

I miss that you never got to see my boys as they graced my life but I feel satisfied knowing you danced with them before I got to meet them.

I love you so much and I think of you so often. I pray to you all the time, mostly when I need some help with quieting down one or both of my kids and we're driving. I pray that you'll just make something happen in the backseat and quiet them down to give me some peace. You answer my prayers most all of the time. The other times I just think you're making me work for it a little bit!

I'm honored that I carry your name but I know I'll never measure up the Christian woman, mother, or grandmother that you were, and that's okay.

I felt so loved by you and I feel so loved by God that He put me into your life, even if it was for just a short time. You're an angel, Grandma.

Why I wish I had great neighbors.

Both boys are asleep right now so I thought I'd prepare the cookie dough that Nathan and I need for making cookies. We're making sugar cookies and decorating them Halloween-y for tomorrow's playgroup here and when going through my ingredients, noticed I don't have enough margarine/butter! ARRGHH!!!

I wish I had a great neighbor that I could just call up and say, "oh, hey, can you run to the store for me?" or "can you come by and sit with the kids for 10 minutes while I run to the grocery store just behind our house?" or better yet, "can I borrow a 1/2 cup of margarine?? I am in a pinch!"

But no. Instead I am surrounded by people I don't really know and most of whom I've never even said two words to. And the house next door to us is vacant having been for sale for about 6 months now!

Oh well. I guess the cookie dough will have to wait. I was just hoping to get a jump on it so it can chill properly and Nathan and I could decorate this evening after his nap. Grrr...

Don't mind my whining.

Dude, I am BEAT today!

I don't know why but here it is 11 pm and I am SO BEAT today! It has been a long, rough day for me. I feel like I've been moving nonstop since 7 am! I guess it doesn't help that I've only downed one meal today - lunch. I just wasn't hungry at dinner but now I am starved but feeling it's too late to eat.

The day's been full of fires to put out - dealing with Nathan's issues of keeping his hands to himself and not annoying his buddies too much; getting Will through this tough time of teething which carries symptoms of its own - congestion, fever, irritability - UGH!; my achin' back; trying to think of a letter "T" snack I can bring to Nathan's preschool class on Thursday - it's our week; making prelim plans for our HUGE Thanksgiving festitivies - I have a butt-load of family coming into town that I am just THRILLED about!; putting together some things around the house - boring stuff you don't want to hear about; finishing NaW's laundry; getting some paper organized; making lists of lists about lists of all kinds of OCD things; etc, etc.!!!

Okay, now it's time for a snack.

Baifu’s 2nd Birthday!

On Saturday we all attended Gabe's (Baifu - as Nathan calls him) 2nd birthday celebration. His actual birthday isn't until the 10th of November but with Jen being due just days away from his birthday, she decided to throw him a "Boo Bash" birthday celebration instead. Originally it was going to be outdoors but since it poured cats & dogs over the weekend, it was moved to their house. It actually turned out quite nice because the kids did a lot of playing together plus we were treated to a great slideshow/photo montage that Gabe has done every year for his birthday.

I also liked the fact that the kids could dress up in costume. It makes me feel the $20+ for each costume of theirs was well worth it. I'll let you be the judge.

N8 as Batman and Will as Curious George - complete with banana and all!

N8 having a great time with old friends. (That's Liam in costume!)

BIRTHDAY BOY!!