Beyond cute!
It's so darn cute and I can't bring myself to even attempt to fix it.

Ian is starting to dig animals as much as Sean did (Sean still does!). He is playing with this old jeep & animal cards thing. I asked him what each one was.....he called the gorilla King Kong. [never seen the movie, but Sean has one of the toys] Yes, that's funny but the other giggle is even better. He calls the zebra a RACE HORSE! I think he's brilliant b/c he has correlated STRIPES (the movie) to his cards. If you tell him it's a zebra he says 'no, it a wace horse!' Yep, little dude, you're right. :)

A little late for LOVE Thursday but a little early still....11 years on Sat!

Busy week here --- it's Red Ribbon Week at our school so the kidlets have assorted things going on each day with the big event being the Jog-a-thon today. Awesome fundraiser that beats selling gift wrap ANYDAY and it earned twice as much money. Sean ran 22 laps (the boy loves to RUN) and Maggie ran 14 laps (hey, she beat last year's number by 2!). It's fun to be able to participate in a few things at school; I was a lap marker for Mag's class. I survived the stampede.

One of the best parts of this week -- it's my first week of having a DVR/TIVO. It's AWESOME; still getting used to lots of details but my shows are in there and I'm diggin' it. Got any must watch suggestions for programming???

Scrapbooking is many things to many people; whether you come to my house to actually get some albums done, organize some old photos, shoot the breeze or just sit and eat, it's ALL good. Having a wide age range of customers always makes things a little more interesting. Yesterday was a lesson in how much of a cocoon I live in. Conversations a plenty ranging from 'how blind are you?' to 'yes, pregnancy will change your shoe size' to the always popular 'anal bleaching/pubic lipsuction'. Yep, you heard me; don't make me repeat it. Those two plastic surgery procedures were seen on Dr. 90210. PLEASE tell me that this is an all fiction and not based on any sort of reality show. People really do this??????? Ugh, I need to find a bubble to put my family in.

LOVE is reading together when neither child knows HOW to read.

Now the gut-wrenching sad part of my New Orleans visit
It was my 1st time back post-Katrina; it has been almost 14mos. since the storm. However, from what I saw, not a lot has changed in many, many places. Empty is a good way to describe it all. I sample a few photos:
This is West End Park -- the former location of Jaeger's, Bart's and other bar/restaurants.
Just one of the thousands of homes in the Lakeview area. The horizontal lines on the pole are water marks. The slow steadying markings as the water subsided. You can still see the family's couch in the front. These poor, poor families.
Yes, that is a boat in the middle of the street. Miles away from where water is now. Still there after all this time.
Breach now fixed, but if you can see the large piece of grassy land -- completely washed away homes.
Touching.

HOME.............
Still here, just wondering around with several blog topics in my head and I can't seem to get any of them out of my brain.

What a difference a week makes.....all of a sudden I'm magically older AND did a quick visit to New Orleans (compliments of my brother). In recent years as my bday approached I found myself having to figure out how old I was turning. It's not that I can't do math, it's just that now the bdays just seem to melt into one another and they are just another day. Don't get me wrong; I love my the gifts/hugs/cards. It is just that it's a reminder of my wrinkles and slowing metabolism.

Now - the visit to New Orleans. It was nice to spend time with my family by myself. Not having to worry about what my kids are doing and what they might get in trouble for is always nice. Plus having undivided attention to play with my nephews is an added bonus. I was able to surprise a couple of friends that didn't know I was coming in town and I even scored a nice dinner out of the deal. Just to enjoy a grown-up dinner with friends is quite a treat. I even got to pop in on a family bday party for my 80yo Uncle Jesse. I saw cousins I hadn't seen since my wedding (almost 11yrs. ago). The Cantrelles sure know how to make me remember home: comfort food, Saints football, and lots of fun. Stepping off the plane in New Orleans, I felt a feeling of 'aaaaaahhhhh, it's good to ge home' even after being gone for 16yrs. BUT then, stepping off the plane in OC to a gaggle of screaming kids 'Moooooommmmmmmmyyyyyy's here!' also sent into the mode of 'it's good to be home.'

Home is where the heart is; very true, but don't forget that your heart has many chambers!

LOVE is finding your favorite place in Dad's lap no matter how old you get.

Like most things in life when major changes happen the event usually means good & bad things happen. For example, when it rains in SoCal --good=we NEED rain; bad=people can't drive in spit drizzle. Need another example, teens start to drive--good=your taxi service is slowing; bad=you add MORE worry onto an already full plate. See what I mean.

SO......Ian is heavy into learning to dress himself & potty training; doing really well; about 95% there! Yeah, right???? Well, let's talk GOOD = no more poopy diapers; easing the budget from the diaper cost; mastering milestones; interesting clothes choices and this:



Now, here's a little BAD = visiting every toilet in every store we go to; wiping another child's butt; toting extra clothes wherever you go; and the dreaded plugging the toilet and holding the flusher so water flows continually and non-stop while you scream for help.



I stopped counting at 12 towels.

Pull up a chair and enjoy a little Pete's Pond.........
http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/wildcamafrica/index.html

I just got lucky and sat here watching a herd of elephants (at least three of them babies) for 10minutes. The elephants moved back into the brush. And suddenly, look here come assorted deer type creatures.

Many thanks to Amy@thefoilhat for linking me to this. Nature in it's truest form.

Over the years I've mostly found magicians annoying; meaning, they mostly just piss me off b/c I want to know 'how do they do that?' A couple of years ago, we were given tickets to see David Copperfield. His show was really amazing and he was very personable (as opposed to the plastic guy I envisioned him to be). His tricks were awesome. Then came David What's-his-name/failed drowning stunt guy Blain?....he is good, but I'm over him now. He seems wasted all the time and he lost his appeal. Along comes Criss Angel. You GOTTA see this guy. First you have to get over his grundge look, but it suits him well. This guy FREAKS ME OUT; CREEPS ME OUT and makes my jaw drop.
His TV show is amazing. The stunts he does continue to captivate me and I can hardly tear myself away. Check him out.

LOVE is picking THE perfect Halloween costume and wearing whenever you want, even if it's 80 degrees outside.

Beyond being incredibly cute, I think Ian is either going to be high maintenance or a metrosexual. His favorite thing these days is "creamy, clean, & mint". Translation for this toddler speak would be: I would like some lip balm, purell, and a tictac. The boy will stop playing at the park and has even bee-lined over to my purse during a Mommy&Me class to do this. I know part of it is the allure of my Mom's mysterious purse, but I laugh every single time he does b/c I thought for sure he would be 'over' it by now.

I even find myself double-checking for these items occasionally b/c I am trying to avoid a random meltdown.

Maybe he needs his own man-purse.

While I slowly drudge toward becoming a Mom of four KIDS, kids as opposing to newborns/nurslings/toddlers (b/c for the 1ST time in 8-1/2 yrs. I'm NOT doing anymore diapers or always toting a stroller), there are still things that I enjoy with my little Ian even though he's plodding toward being a big boy. I love children's music. I always have since I was teaching.

I guess I should clarify -- GOOD children's music; FUN children's music. I did allow some Barney for my first-born, but the purple thing got OLD really fast. One of my classroom favs. was Red Grammar and I still play him in the car. Amanda was playing on the computer and came across this http://disney.go.com/disneychannel/playhouse/choochoosoul/index.html
If you're feet aren't movin' and/or you butt isn't groovin' you must be dead. I don't know which one I like better ABC or 123. Now that I have those fun little diddies stuck in your head my work here is done.

ALL ABOARD!