Visit from Grandpa..and Halloween

Grandpa was able to take vacation and came to our house for 2 whole weeks! We celebrated 4 birthdays while he was here. He also spent a lot of time getting used to being around a preschooler and a toddler again, cause it's been awhile for him. He spent a lot of time going on walks and was even stopped by the cops twice! I kept telling him at least he's making memories of good times in Tennessee...haha.

He took walks everyday and on one of the walks was stopped by a policeman making sure he was okay. There aren't many sidewalks here and the officer wanted to make sure he wasn't stranded. The second incident was a bit more interesting. He'd hopped a fence to take some pictures of an historical property nearby, and was caught! Though, in my Dad's defense, he had looked for a formal entrance and ticket booth to legitimize his presence prior to hopping said fence. Nevertheless, he was placed in the back of a squad-car and taken to the ticket-booth (which was quite a distance away, across a main highway, on a separate historical property).

This is the thing great memories are made of.

Halloween was fun - I wanted to make costumes, but work has been insane and I'm grateful to have time with my family and I don't want to squander it with crafts taking me away from them...and I'm lazy- teehee. Katie was Batgirl and Josh was a Jedi.

Here are some shots of good times while Grandpa was here along with pics at the Branch Halloween party, the kids in their costumes, and Birthdays. Enjoy!

Also...Blogger is smarter than me and not allowing me to format today, so I'm very sorry for what seem to be the giant run-on paragraph that is this blog post. Have a great day!

Josh quote of the week

"Daddy, can we watch Cast Holes on Marbles Marbles?"
"Watch what?"
"Cast Holes on Marbles Marbles."
(TV in the background on the History Channel) "...we now return to Castles on Modern Marvels"

Peek-a-boo!

I guess they never get too old for this...

Random Tale of Josh and the Gross Dinner

Gross Dinner is certainly one perspective, though it was admittedly a near-miss for our tired chef (me). I made my mom's turkey-stroganoff over rice this evening, and the kids helped me cook. Since I don't measure the spices, I discovered it's a bit harder to 'eyeball' the amount of the spices in a tiny kid-hand, and ended up with a tad (read: YUCK) too much garlic salt in the gravy. Not to worry, I made enough rice to stretch it out and make it palatable.

Enter Josh, who claims he doesn't like stroganoff (though he loves to help me make it), even though he's been eating it since he was in the womb. We had broccoli with it, which is the bane of his existence; certainly the nemesis of any 3-year old boy (he was once only offered his broccoli at every meal/snack until he choked it down the next day at lunch).

Unfortunately for him, I mixed his broccoli into his stroganoff. In order to make dinner a bit more enjoyable I offered cheese into the mix, which he accepted gladly, stating he would then eat his yucky stroganoff and broccoli. He still didn't touch it until I picked it up and took a bite (which I might add, was quite good, the broccoli along with the extra rice and cheese was VERY good, enough so I may have a new cassarole on my hands...but I digress). Once I took a bite he was super interested in eating it himself, so long as I fed it to him. I don't usually go along with that request, but he was eating it (broccoli included) so I just went with it.

On EVERY bite with broccoli, the kid gagged. I still don't know if this is acting or not. I know Miguel has a very sensitive gag reflex, so it could be real, but I still haven' t decided if I buy it or not, especially since he does it with anything he doesn't want to eat, but I like to give him the benefit of the doubt. His last bite of broccoli was a small "tree" which I knew couldn't be very crunchy, and is the part I like the best. He took it and started chewing *and gagging* all while being praised for his valiant efforts of eating his veggies like a good boy. He gagged, and gagged, and gagged again. And finally...he threw up on the table.

Josh 1 Mom 0

He didn't ask for anything else and proclaimed he was finished at that point. I didn't fight it, though he certainly didn't get any "treat" (read: iced animal crackers - YUM) after dinner.

Oh well. On to figuring out new ways to disguise vegetables with dinner. And, just to let you know, normally when I offer veggies it is alongside something he enjoys eating. So I have him eat a serving of veggies first, then provide the good stuff. I guess I have to switch to fruit on the nights we have an entree he despises...hmmm...that may be my new strategy. At least he will eat any fruit I put in front of him. If he could live on fruit, yogurt, cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, I think he'd be the world's happiest kid.

And the tiredness continues...

The new person I mentioned in my last post (please take note of the date of that post), has yet to be hired. Yep, still hasn't started. Yesterday I heard final word he is starting on Monday, so hopefully I will be able to have time to think soon.

Tired...

I'm sorry, I've been working like a crazy person. 2 people quit at work, 1 of which was my counterpart. I am now 8 months into this job, doing the job of a Sr. Technician. Great opportunity. Horrible hours. No fun sinking or swimming.

BUT I haven't forgotten my blog and my few followers.

Pray for me, I think I will be needing it...

Hopefully they will hire someone next week, but then I have to train them AND do the job of 2 people. Why doesn't that sound comforting?

I'm going to bed.

Coming Soon....

Vacation...yes, you read that right!
4th of July

We really aren't dead, I've just been busy. I'll catch you all up on our un-exciting busy-ness soon.