Happy Halloween! (304/365)

What a gorgeous day for Trick-or-Treating!! Like most Sundays, we
spent this one in Villa Park at Matt's parents' house. VP does their
trick-or -treating during daytime hours so we were able to enjoy the
beautiful sunshine as we went door-to-door. The wind had a chill on
it, but it was still quite gorgeous out!

My girls were dressed as Care Bears (Mike, Alice really should have
been Grumpy Bear instead of Cheer - ugh!), JR was his hero Thomas the
Tank Engine, and Sammy was a cute little bee.

We made our rounds around the neighborhood and all of the kids came
home with a sack full of goodies to eat. Matt was good and didn't eat
anything other than Smarties. Me, I apparently really needed some
chocolate today! We'll see how screwed up my weigh in is tomorrow -
it was a bad week.

I don't think I mentioned it, but Matt and I are doing another
weightloss challenge. It's really gotten Matt back on the wagon in
terms of good eating habits, but it's yet to light a fire under my
butt. I wish I had more willpower. It ends mid December. We'll see how
well I do with the holidays and with all of the candy in my house at
the moment!

I Love Lazy Saturdays (303/365)

We didn't do much of anything today. We played, watched a Halloween
movie or two, had an early dinner, and we finished the day with a
spooky movie under a tent made of sheets.

The day couldn't have been any better.

I Always Knew She Was Easily Amused (302/365)

Iz and I went to Alice's preschool Halloween party today. In order to
keep her out of the way of the other kids so she didn't get trampled,
I gave her three clothes pins to play with and wouldn't you know it,
they kept her busy the whole time! We passed them back and forth to
one another and I counted them to her as we passed them.

Alice played games, sang songs, trick-or-treated at the old folks home
a few doors down, freeze danced to the record daddy listened to every
year at Halloween, and all in all had a great time. I'm pretty glad we
were able to show up and help out.

Doctor Visit (301/365)

Alice: she's a beast! The kid weighs in at 50 pounds and she's 44
inches. That's off the charts for both measurements! I knew she was a
moose. I talked to the doc about her tonsils. He had mentioned them
before (she's got massive kissing tonsils), but it never caused her
issues so we left it at that. Now she snores, chokes on them, and they
impair her speaking to a point. Needless to say he recommended she see
an ENT and have them taken out.

Izzy: she's dropped from the 50th percentile for weight, to the 37th.
I'm not surprised considering she's been eating like a bird for the
past month. Doc upped her Zantac by a ml per dosage in hopes that that
is her issue. Cross your fingers that that is what is going on.

For good measure I threw in a pic of Alice's costume that I FINALLY
finished. Just in time too as her school Halloween party is tomorrow!

Someone Had Her Special Day at School Today (300/365)

We brought bakery made Swiss cake rolls for her special snack, and I
got to read Alice's favorite book to the whole class at the end of the
school day. Izzy, of course, came with and was in heaven surrounded by
kids (who all wanted to eat her up), books, and toys.

Her favorite part of the day? The fact that she's now old enough to
have a library bag and check out a book from the school library. She's
been talking about it for days now, and one of her teachers told me
that that was the first thing Alice told her this morning. I am SO not
surprised!!

What a Blustery Day (299/365)

This morning for me started very early - 3am to be exact. Alice got up
in a dazed panic looking for Teddy. I sent her to the potty, then put
her to bed. I then tossed any turned until I couldn't take it anymore
and I got up at 4am. Strike 1.

It was unusually hot, so I opened the window and the sliding door
causing a fabulous breeze to come in and it cooled me instantly. I
surfed the web trying to get the urge to fall back asleep. Before I
knew it it was 6am and a nice breeze wasn't the only thing coming in
the window. Unbeknownst to me it was drizzling and the intense wind
was blowing it in the house - all over a stack of mail and the rest of
out green cabinet.
Strike 2.

By 7:30am the rain was heavy and the wind was incredible. Then the
sirens went off.
Strike 3.

It was going to be a bad day.

You may have heard that a huge storm passed through here that
stretched from Canada all the way to Tennessee that was in front of
the strongest low pressure front in the month of October ever recorded
- according to my local news man. Needless to say I was pretty glad I
didn't have to be anywhere today.

The girls and I played and I finally decided I'd better work on
Alice's costume again as she needs it for Friday and Sunday! Good
thing I did too because the hand sewing is taking me much longer than
I expected.

Tonight Alice and Matt carved the pumpkins - designs totally by Alice.
One even has a crown because Alice's just had to be a princess.

After my princess went to bed I watched Rocky Horror and then,
unfortunately, I watched The Amityville Horror and now I'm going to
have to watch something happy before heading to bed.

Stupid Halloween.

P is For…(298/365)

Pumpkin!

We finally had the chance to start carving our pumpkins tonight. So
far they've just been gutted, tomorrow night we'll carve. Alice had a
hell of a good time fishing out seeds and spooning out pumpkin guts
into a bowl. I can't wait to carve them!

P is also for Parent/Teacher Conference.

This morning was my first one ever and I'm happy to report that Alice
is doing well. She excels in most academic areas, but she needs some
work in other areas. Nothing surprising, it's stuff we see at home too
like being aware of other people's personal space, sharing is not
grabbing toys from another kid, she resists transition from one thing
to another, etc. It's always good to know how she is for other people
and now I know where she needs work.

Thought I'd mention that Izzy is still not eating well. I've had to
resort to sitting her on my lap and playing the "Mommy take a bite,
now Izzy take a bite" game to get her to eat anything. I'm starting to
really feel like she needs her meds adjusted because it's starting to
feel like her first 9 months of life all over again. Thankfully she
has a well baby visit on Thursday. Hopefully it's nothing more than
her reflux acting up. I'll keep you posted.

What a Difference Four Years Makes(297/365)

Happy Birthday to my little girl. You came into our lives and changed
it forever. What a pleasure it has been watching you grow up, and I
can't wait to see what the future has in store!

Al's Last Day as a Three Year Old (296/365)

Well, I would say Alice's friend bday party was a success!

Alice was so full of anticipation this morning before her guests
arrived that she ran around the card table over, and over, and over
again. She invited three of her friends from preschool (the perfect
number of kids, if you ask me) and to say that the house was instantly
full of life is an understatement.

I can see why Alice chose these three girls, they really all mesh so
well together and every one of them (even Alice) were very well
behaved. When they painted pumpkins their difference in age was
surprisingly quite apparent. Two of the girls are 8ish months older
than the other two, and while they both painted quite detailed
pumpkins, the other two mixed up the paints and slapped it haphazardly
on the pumpkin.

Afterwards we made pita pizzas. Of course I provided toppings even
though I knew the kids were just going to want cheese. I was right, of
course, but they didn't go to waste as the adults who were here used
most of them up.

I can tell Alice is growing up as the four girls spent a lot of time
trashing, I mean playing in her bedroom WITH THE DOOR CLOSED. At one
point Matt went back there to tell them something and Alice promptly
told him that they were having a tea party for girls only, NO BOYS
ALLOWED! I tell you I swear she was just a baby yesterday.

The cake was great and received lots of great presents from her
friends. In the end we had about three hours of good fun and I don't
regret having just a simple, small party instead of a sleepover. And I
know Alice had great fun!

Tomorrow we're providing grub for our weekly trip to Grandma and
Grandpa Bathje's. Not really a party, but there will be more pizza and
even more cake. In a few short hours my baby will be four years old.
Man, time flys when you're having fun.

Can You Tell What We Are Preparing For? (295/365)

There's a random one in there from today when Alice's buddy Emily came
home with us from school today.

Anyway, Alice's friend bday party is tomorrow! Alice and three of her
best friends from school will be painting pumpkins, making pita
pizzas, and eating what I hope is a yummy princess bday cake. They
are all going to be dressed as princesses too - I know Alice is going
to flip!

Happy Bday, Uncle Ry!! (294/365)

Let me apologize now for using tinypic to upload this video. For some reason it was out of sync when I uploaded it to Photobucket, twice. And I have to use Photobucket because the video uploader for blogger doesn't work for me and hasn't in ages. Then I tried uploading it to Vimeo, but it's still waiting in the to be activated queue, whatever that is. SO, I decided if I was going to get this up by midnight I'd have to resort to Tinypic, so there you go. :)


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

We miss you, Ry. We hope you're safe while doing Marine like things. LOVE YOU!

Mommy, I Need My Lunch on a Tray…(293/365)

Because sick people always eat their food off of a tray.

Well Alice missed school today. She's been getting sick, but this
morning she was running a fever so I kept her home. Hopefully she's
better by Saturday so we don't have to call off her princess bday
party. That will be one devastated little girl if that happens.

Well I Guess I Was Able to Rise to the Occasion (292/365)

Izzy had an honest to goodness choking incident at McDonnald's
tonight. It was just me and the girls so even though I did panic, it
wasn't like in the past when I flipped out and let Matt handle it.
Thankfully she was able to get that piece of apple out. After a good
cry and a drink of milk she was ok.

Let's hope we don't have to go through that again anytime soon.

I've Got a Case of the Mondays (291/365)

Dad's sick and I'm freaked out, two out of three of us have some sort
of GI bug, I've been tackling the daunting task of cleaning up this
house and preparing for the party on Saturday. I've got cranky
children and a tired husband who has been studying his ass off lately
(wish him luck, he's got two midterms this week) and I'm simply ready
to sleep the rest of this day away and wake up tomorrow to a better
day.

I hope.

Get better, Dad. We love you.

Fun in the Sun (290/365)

We figured we'd better enjoy it while it lasts! Pretty soon the days
will be short and dreary and today was just too nice to spend it
indoors!

Side note: thinking of you, Grandpa. We hope you get to come home
soon. Love, all of your Chicagoland girls (and Matt).

Beautiful Day For Pumpkin Picking (289/365)

We decided to make a trip out to the pumpkin farm this weekend since
the girls and I were able to get in for free. It was nice to get to
experience it with Matt as well. Plus there were a few things that
weren't open during the week that we were able to experience. Like the
giant inflatable slides.

I thought for sure Alice wouldn't even try the slide because she isn't
a big fan of regular slides, but she proved me wrong! First she went
down the smaller slide and loved it. Then she went down the big one
and didn't want to stop! I never thought she'd do it, but she did!

There was a large animatronic giant there who was supposed to be from
Jack and the Beanstalk who told us all about the things we could do on
the farm. The pic is of Izzy being absolutely enamored with it. She
also loved the train ride, again, and the hayride.

At the end of the trip we picked out some pumpkins (and a bag of
kettle corn that is nearly gone) and left for home. It was a fabulous
day spent with the people I love and the weather couldn't have been
more perfect (this time)!

Dear God, (288/365)

When my darling daughter, Alice, turns four in just a few short days,
does this mean that the three year old attitude will be replaced with
four year old rainbows and unicorns?

After the day I've had, I sure as heck hope so.

I've dealt with miss Sassy Pants nearly from the moment she woke up
until bedtime, almost falling on my butt at Meijer due to slipping in
a puddle of water in the deli section, having my debit card PIN not
work in the checkout line (I just got a new card, but the paperwork
said that the PIN wouldn't change, but apparently it did), spent an
hour and a half at the doctor office for an appointment that should
have taken a half hour, spent FAR too long on the phone with Chase
trying to figure out the PIN situation, etc.

I'm heading to bed, I'm ready for this day to be over!

Poor, Sick Izaboo (287/365)

She spent most of her day on my lap or curled in my arms. I hope she
feels a bit better tomorrow. I have shopping to do and we will be
spending too much time at the doctor's office for my PT/INR testing
(so far I haven't had an appointment for this last less than an hour).
I don't want her coming home with an even yuckier bug, but what can I
do? Momma's got to get stuff done.

Top 10 Things I Loved About Today (286/365)

1) Seeing Alice interact with all of her school friends on her field
trip to the pumpkin farm. She and two other girls are like The Three
Amigas.

2) How nice it was to finally put a face to the names Alice has been
talking about. And meeting their moms was nice as well.

3) Riding the kiddie train with Izzy. Alice was already up front with
her buddies, but I really wanted to give Iz the chance to experience
the train too, so we sat in back. To say she loved it is an
understatement! When it was over, I passed Iz off to one of Alice's
teachers so I could get out easier, and she didn't want to come back
to me! She was very upset when we left the train area.

4) Having a cell phone. With out one I would have wondered if the trip
was canceled or not and I probably would have gone back home before
the rest of the bunch arrived. I got there super early (I know how
congested traffic can be in the morning, plus I had construction to
deal with) and it was raining. I was able to call the school, but no
one answered. Thankfully my friend Kim had talked to the school
director and I knew to stick around.

5) That the weather gods were smiling on us. It stopped raining
LITERALLY at the moment our tour was supposed to start. The sun didn't
come out until our group was leaving, though.

6) Hay rides. I haven't been on one in ages. I forgot how fun they
are. Alice, of course, had to sit with her buddies Zoe and Emily. They
had a ball.

7) Helping hands. Several people helped me out today by either taking
Alice through a part of the farm that didn't allow strollers, or
grabbing Alice's hand when I struggled with the stroller in the
gravel, etc. It was nice that they helped me out like that. Wish I
didn't have to bring the silly thing.

8) Staying after the group left to play in the awesome playground with
Emily and her mom. For one thing, the toys were so fun, and we had the
whole area to ourselves for about 20 minutes. We left when a group of
1st graders came charging through!

9) The bounce house. Again we had this all to ourselves and the two
girls bounced for another 20 minutes or so. They played hard!

10) All of us napping peacefully after we ate a late lunch when we got
home. Even Momma was pooped!

I Can't Believe this October Weather! (285/365)

I don't know how the weather is by you, but here it has been
unseasonably warm for at least the last week! I'm not complaining,
we've certainly taken advantage of the clear skies and perfect
temperatures.

I'm hoping we have another good day tomorrow as the girls and I are
meeting up with Alice's class at a nearby (hmm, well, sort of) pumpkin
farm for a day filled with fun. It would be nice if we could have
another day like today to enjoy on the farm. My fingers and toes are
crossed!

I Think I Need to Call a Priest (284/365)

Izzy wasn't herself again today, and I think I figured out why - she's
possessed. She and Alice weren't napping AGAIN today, and when I went
in to knock some heads she was growling at me and wouldn't stop. Alice
later told me that Iz was trying to scare her and that she found it
hilarious.

Oh those crazy kids of mine.

The Best Part About a Bathje Gathering is…(283/365)

The Swedish flop. Be jealous. It looks ridiculously sweet, but in fact
it has just the right amount of sugary goodness. Mmmm, I wish I had
some right now!

Iz seems to be on the mend - who ever heard of a 24 hour cold?! Maybe
it was allergies, who knows. She's happy and mostly healthy and
that's all that matters.

I didn't even drink last night (curse you, Coumadin!) and I was so
wiped that I crashed after being home for no more than an hour. The
girls had to wake me up to say good bye! I should have asked them for
pics they took of the girls before they left, but I didn't think of
it. So JJ and Tor, please email me some pics of the weekend!

Alice has off school tomorrow so we're probably going to clean house
and do a few errands, and maybe something fun if she's a good girl. I
can't believe how fast her bday is approaching! Pretty soon my baby
will be four, it's really quite hard to believe!

Just the Highlights (282/365)

Just got back to the hotel after the wedding. It was a great night and
I'm so very happy for Mary and Andy. Congrats!

Alice apparently had a blast at her bday party. I can't wait to hear
all about it when we get home tomorrow!

Iz is a sick little bugger. Probably some sort of cold Al brought home
from school. I hope she's better soon and that she gets a good nights
sleep, I can't bear to see her like that.

They're Goin' to the Chapel…(281/365)

and they're gonna get married. Only a few more hours, Mar!

Things I Learned Today (280/365)

- That I need to remember to wear gloves when I use Soft Scrub. I always forget and I end up cursing myself for not remembering when my hands become very dry.

- That hair clippers with out the guard can cut skin. Ooops!

- That I need to do something different when it comes to putting my children to bed. For nap and for bedtime they both played, talked, etc instead of winding down like good girls. Tonight alone Matt and I went in there a total of 10 times over the course of two hours. UGH!!!!!

- That this Halloween costume is going to a major pain in my ass. Who am I kidding, it already is.

- That I don't know where anything is on the new computer. Today was my first day ever playing around on it, and Matt has had it finished for at least a month now.

- That Dad will probably not get what I want to give him for Christmas AGAING because it STILL hasn't been released yet.

- That I freaking love the sitar. Ok, this was more of a "hey, I forgot how much I love the sitar" kind of moment.

- That I need to wear clothing I don't care about when using bleach products. Oops again.

- That I am really in a blogging rut! Good thing the wedding is coming up and I'll have something more interesting to blog about. :)

One Project Completed (279/365)

I decided before school started that I wanted to put a clothes line up
in Alice's room so she'd have a place for the artwork she would be
bringing home. I kept meaning to look for the supplies, but every time
I'd go to the store I'd forget. Then once I finally remembered I
couldn't find clothesline or clothes pins. This week Matt found them
for me and tonight I put it up. I have to say it looks mighty cute,
though I may need to move it higher. Right now I'm crossing my fingers
that Alice just leaves it alone so I don't have to move it. We'll see
how long that lasts. I, unfortunately, forgot to take a pic, so I may
just update this with one in the morning.

Now if I could just bring myself to finish my other million projects
starting with that damn dress…actually that'll have to wait until
after I make Al's Halloween costume. Then comes Charles's
quilt…Cindy's needle holder…Tori's skirt…

Well at least ONE thing is done!

Rambling Randomness (278/365)

• I'm still on the fence about Izzy. Switching diapers seems to have
helped the peeing through her diaper business, but she is still not
eating well. It's funny because some days she eats great, but most
days she really only eats one good meal. I think I'm going to have to
break down and call the doctor.

• Alice has gotten back in the habit of climbing into bed with us
again. She'll say she's cold, or her room is scary, or the light from
outside is in her eyes, anything to stay in our bed. She's driving me
nuts, and this time around I can't put a childproof door handle on her
door to fix it.

• Alice STILL hasn't had a full nights sleep on school nights. We put
her to bed early, but she'll still manage to stay up to or passed her
non school day bedtime. No wonder she drags in the afternoon on school
days! It makes for a rough day for Izzy too, unfortunately.

• I'm excited to see my sisters this weekend, though we won't be
around for much of it. JJ and Tor will be here to watch the girls for
us on Saturday. I know they are all going to have a blast!

• Fruit flies are my least favorite pest at the moment. We recently
have had an outbreak of them and they are driving me nuts! Not to
mention the fact that my house now smells if apple cider vinegar
because I'm trying to trap and drown them - yuck! They are so
freaking hard to get rid of.

• Iz has recently started saying a lot more words, though her favs are
still "hi" and "bye-bye". It's so cute hearing her say Alice's name!
She really is growing up way too fast!

• We decided not to do a big bday bash for Alice this year. We're
hoping to have two or three of Alice's friends from school over for
dinner, cake, and a sleep over instead. Then we'll just have cake and
probably order pizza at Mom and Dad's house for whoever is there on
Sunday when we go over. Then of course we'll do something with my
family the next time we are home. I hope it all works out. Alice is
DYING to have a slumber party!

Busy Day! (277/365)

This afternoon after school, the girls and I went over to Alice's
friend Emily's house for a visit. We intended to only spend about an
hour there and ended up spending four! It goes without saying that we
all had a blast.

The girls are very much alike so I can see why they get along so well
at school. Her mom is great and I have a lot in common with her too.
We played on the trampoline, in the sandbox, the girls got to go
upstairs and play unsupervised in Emily's room (Alice LOVED that
part), they played dress up, etc. It was a very fun day and neither of
my girls wanted to leave.

Tonight I made eggs with fried veggies and Alice got to help. I try
and get her in the kitchen as much as I can, but she doesn't always
want to help. She gets such a thrill out of cutting veggies, but she
especially liked getting to crack the eggs! It actually fit right in
with what Alice said they are doing at school right now. They cracked
open an egg and examined the contents. Then they put an egg in vinegar
to see if it will change. I'm quite impressed with all that they do
with the kids, even if I never hear about it from Alice only in my
weekly emails from the school! It can be like pulling teeth to get
her to tell me what she did at school!

My Table Dancing Izzy (276/365)

She had such a blast, she didn't want to get down (she did, however, get funky). The child even did the moonwalk and she doesn't even know that that is! Silly baby. We had a pretty good day at Mom and Dad's. I got my phone replaced (lets pray the refurbished one is better than my POS old one. I've already had issues with the camera, so I'm not hopeful), Alice and Izzy played with JR and Sammy, Mom made some delicious chili, and Matt and Fred had fun battling each other on their computers (I don't think Matt got much homework done like he had intended). Unfortunately Alice was super tired and therefore was quite crabby. I tried to get her to sleep for quite a while to no avail. When it was nearly dinnertime, Matt brought Teddy in from the car and, of course, she passed out cold. Some days, I tell you, it's hard being a mom.

Tomorrow is a new day though, and hopefully a fun one at that. Alice has school in the morning, and then we're heading over to Emily's house to play and eat lunch. I'm sure both girls will be in heaven!

Just Me and My Baby (275/365)

Alice and I spent a few hours at the mall today, just the two of us. I
was on a mission to find myself a shrug for the wedding and we also
needed to pick up a thing or two for Alice's friend Emily's Birthday.

I didn't find a single shrug, but we did manage to get some pretty
sweet deals at The Disney Store (and neither of us ate pavement on the
way out of the store, Cindy). Since her party is Tinkerbell themed I
figured Tinkerbell was the way to go for presents as well. We got her
a Tink shirt, a Tink doll, and an awesome Tink gift bag that is very
much like a reusable grocery store bag that cost no more than a paper
gift bag so I figure she'll make good use out of it afterwards as
well. They're pretty darn sweet, if you ask me, but I wish they made
them with more obscure characters. Hell even Alice in Wonderland is
hard to come by in that store. And that's why when I found a adorable
Alice t-shirt I slyly added it to my stash and I'll save it for
Alice's bday.

After we paid we went downstairs to the food court to grab a bite and
ride the carousel. Let me tell you, there is no way I could go to that
mall and NOT take Alice to the carousel - it simply can't be done.
Anyway, of course she had a blast, but she really had her heart set on
riding in the spinning seat. So I bought another token and asked the
woman if we could wait until the next time around so we could have a
shot at sitting in the spinning seat. She was happy to let us wait,
and as soon as we were allowed to enter, Al made a bee line to the
spin seat - and we scored! A little while later a Hispanic boy and
his dad came by us and I could just tell he desperately wanted to ride
in the spin seat, so I asked them to join us. They did and both kids
(and probably us grown ups too) had so much fun!

Ok, Tori, Have Some Pics (274/365)

The girls have always been well loved by our doctor and his nurse, but
now that we have to spend ungodly amounts of time there the rest of
the staff have taken a liking to them as well. I went into the lab on
Thursday and saw the same tech that I saw on Monday. Upon seating me
(well, us, since I held Iz) she turned to the other lab tech and said,
"these are the girls I told you about," and they then both fawned over
the two of them. I swear they are both going to get big heads.

While waiting to see the doc, Iz became the office entertainment. She
exclaimed "HI!" and "BYE!" to anyone who passed by. One man even told
me she should be on television. Both girls seemed to brighten
everyone's day, and they were both SO well behaved despite how near it
was to lunch/nap time.

Today was a good day for me. I got brave and finally drove out of my
comfort zone and made a trip out to see my MIL. Surprisingly enough I
didn't have any issues with nerves or otherwise. I even took Ogden all
the way home and didn't have a conniption.

It was good to see my MIL. She made us lunch and we played outside all
afternoon. We got to watch the kids as they got out of school. I think
Alice loves doing that almost as much as Grandma does. We left for
home after playing several rounds of "ski ball", baseball, lots of
swinging, and coloring of leaves. I'm glad I bit the bullet and did it
before next week when I'll have to drive out there for the rehearsal
dinner. At least I know now I can do it!

Oh, before I forget. The ABSOLUTE highlight of my day was getting a
call from one of the mothers of Alice's school mates inviting Al to
her daughter's Tinkerbell birthday party. Apparently this little girl
when asked about her day at school goes on and on about what she did
with Alice that day so naturally Alice was also her number one friend
she wanted to come to her party. It's happening next weekend so
awesome Auntie Tori will be taking her in our stead since we'll be at
the wedding. I'm so excited for Alice, her first real friend bday
party! Needless to say she can't wait.