Halloween: Rock star and, huh? Puffy Taco?

Well...Halloween is right around the corner and it is nearing that time when I need to start making the munchkins' costumes. I've made their costumes every year except for one. This year I think munchkin #1 has settled for wanting to be a ROCKSTAR...I'll probably get her a pettiskirt, make her some lace gloves, glittery corset, add some pink highlights and do some major teasing of the hair. She'll have everyone asking, "whose that girl?" and "how did she get a time machine to take her back to the 80s?", hee hee...no influence from me.

Now munchkin #2...well...let's just rewind to about a month ago. The 2 year old LOVES baseball! REALLY loves baseball...it is constantly on his mind...he can even watch it on television...like the major league baseball games and it grabs his attention more than any cartoon or preschool show out there...seriously, he'll watch the whole game...but won't sit through 30 minutes of Little Bill. We had a brilliant idea to take him to see the San Antonio Missions play live...and of course, he LOVED every minute...the only thing that would occasionally pull him away from the action on the field was this guy:
Oh...you don't know who (or what) that is? Why...that my friends is the "Puffy Taco" himself. He seems to be 1/2 of the mascot team for the Missions. Munchkin #2 was so taken in by this "edible?" being...that he now wants to be him for Halloween! A month ago, he wanted to be a baseball player...and although he still lives and breathes baseball...upon answering the question, "what do you want to be for Halloween?", he quickly and anxiously answers with "the puffy taco"...*sigh*... foul ball for me...I don't want to create a puffy taco on my serger...I don't mind frying one up on my stove, but sewing one...no not really! Hubby tends to think that this could be kind of "cool"...so, I told him I would make him a Quesadilla costume and he could help the little one go door to door asking for salsa...and somehow the puffy taco idea has lost a tad bit of it's luster...it's still there...lingering...but the coolness factor has plummeted some. In all honestly, if the little one wants to be a puffy taco...I guess...I'll wave my magic wand and turn him into one...for a couple of hours. BUT, this mommy thinks she still may be able to hit one out of the ballpark and change his mind...the question is should I? Pick your battles, my mother always says...technically, no one is getting hurt in this one...so we shall see...

What have you been up to?

Hi everyone! Yes, I am still here...
I haven't blogged in a while...and I am not sure why, because I love to...just haven't had the time, I suppose...I've been busy and not feeling well...and well, life is happening all around me as we speak...it's going around you too, I predict. Yup, the world enjoys playing "Ring around the rosies" with me in the middle, and when it's time "to fall down", I have to yank it back up and sternly tell it to stop doing that and ask if it could please play the "quiet game" instead...do you know the "quiet" game?

The first couple of months of back to school always seem so disorganized for me...have to get into routine mode. Technically, I should have a lot more time on my hands since munchkin #1...the 7 yr old...is back in school, but no...somehow I don't...and then there is the fact that munchkin #2...the 2yr old...keeps asking for his big sister...wants to go to school with her...in fact, I'm surprised he hasn't tried jumping in her backpack because that is totally something he would try to do...hmmmm, I think I'm going to leave it on the floor in the morning...just to see what he does...I'll let you all know if an attempt was made.

Anyway...I really do LOVE being a stay-at-home mother, my munchkins are the BEST...they make me laugh...HARD...sometimes...and of course they allow me to stretch out my vocal chords every once in a while too...okay, well I seem to try them out a lot...goodness, I never knew I could get that loud...and perhaps I would have never known had it not been for them.

On the other hand...boy do they like stopping to smell the roses...technically, we haven't any roses in our garden...but you know what I mean. AND, again if if weren't for them...I'd never do so. It seems I am constantly scurrying them out the door and into the car...then out of the car and into the house...and ever so often, I realize my haste and stop to join them in whatever they are looking at...did you know concrete has a lot of interesting swirls and lines in it? I never knew this...or perhaps I did when I was a child...but I had forgotten it all. Did you know that seeing a roly poly (aka: pill bug) come out from under a blade of grass was fascinating? Um, no I didn't...I mean I knew they did this, but never thought the concept to be too interesting to stop and look...apparently they are "playing hide and seek" with one another and we should try to see if we can find the other players...and to my amazement...there always ARE other players to be found.

Yes, the munchkins are an irreplaceable JOY in my life...truly you feel JOY when you have children...I mean I thought I knew what JOY felt like before...especially around Christmas time...but the munchkins really embody what that word really "feels" like, they make it something more concrete (ha...with swirls and lines in it).

We were talking with some friends the other night and they have a 10 month old little girl. We were all sitting around with some other friends and the topic of having more than one child came up and of course the chaos that can accompany that type of " setting". We all seemed to believe that the second child was much more rambunctious than the first, I was asked if munchkin #1 was a "good" child...you know what I mean...and of course, I answered "yes" and then I quickly added..."at least I think so"...and what I meant by that was that I believe that as time passes us by...we forget the late nights, the "no-no"s, the wagging of the fingers, the food fights and the tantrums, I honestly believe that when my children are teenagers I shall be erroneously remembering the perfect children that they were through their infant and toddler years. But, that's motherhood isn't it...focusing on the "good" and not dwelling on the bad? I honestly believe I will somehow make my self believe that I PAID someone for voice lessons and that my strong vocal chords are now the product of an amazing voice coach-in fact I will probably be trying to locate them on Facebook! AND, yet I will remember that my children taught me how to play with the roly polies in the grass.

Ahhhhh...yes, this is what life is truly all about! For me anyway...

So, what have you been up to?

Like mother, like daughter...

Quick and short:

The tooth fairy visited munchkin #1 last night...

Munchkin #1 came running to me this morning saying,

"Mommy...LOOK the tooth fairy gave me some money! Now, I can donate it to my school for the fundraiser!"

Awwwww....that's my girl...she has a heart for charity already!

(That's the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth)

The day Americans paused.

Where were you? Do you remember?
I'll bet you do. We all do.
The day Americans paused.
September 11, 2001

I was at home with our first child, munchkin #1, who was at the time 4 1/2 months old. I was sitting in bed with her when I received my daily phone call from my mother. BUT, this time I could hear that something was wrong when she asked, "what are you doing?". I remember her telling me to turn on the television. I had long given up TV-I figured I was at home to give munchkin #1 my undivided attention...I have since realized that you need to let children know that they can not be given ALL of one's attention...ALL of the time. (BUT, they still get a lot of my attention, they relish in being the centers of attention, and I relish in the fact that I am able to see them receive this attention)

I remember watching the towers. I remember the fire. I remember seeing the replays. I remember listening to some who had witnessed what they saw, most not really sure what they had seen and most of all what was to come. My mother all the while trying to catch me up on the events thus far...was this really happening? My eyes and ears engrossed in details that I could never have even imagined.

Then the second plane came...this left me wondering where else is this happening? What is really going on here? I recollect my phone call with my mother being interrupted, by several beeps...ahhh, the wonder that is "Call Waiting". My husband was on the other line making sure that we were fine and making sure that I had heard of what was happening. Fortunately, we were no where near NYC, and I am just realizing how many women were grasping at the hope that soon their husband would be on the (phone) line.

I was aware of what was occurring, I was seeing what was happening, what was still materializing, and nevertheless so unsure of it all. Really...how could this be taking place? We are America! This does not happen here...we don't get attacked like this...uh-uh, no way, no how!

I recall feeling a bit scared, yet feeling confident that our country was already doing what they could to ensure that this was going to be isolated to these very symbolic towers.
Tears streamed down my face in abundance upon hearing of those who were unaccounted for. My heartfelt sympathy for those who already knew that there loved ones would not be joining them for dinner that evening, and for those who had lost their soul mates forever, was very strong. I turned off the television and turned it back on so many times that day, it was all so draining of ones human spirit. Yet--at the same time so uplifting to see and know that all of us paused at the same time through out the day. It was as if each of us personally knew someone in those towers. AND, although we didn't know them personally or by name...I guess in a sense we did know them, they were all part of our extended American family- mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, sons, daughters, cousins, neighbors, friends, etc... and we weren't resting until we heard of each ones fate.

I remember this day, and it will always remain imprinted in my mind and heart. I can not watch programs related to 9/11...it still depletes me of all of the tears I can possibly give out in one day.

If this is how I feel on the anniversary of this tragic event...I can only wonder how those who lost their loved ones feel. I hope that they have been given strength through the years. I hope they know that we were all giving them a hug that day and the days, weeks and months that followed. Seven years have passed...I can't believe it...it is still so vivid in my mind.

I could never express the gratitude I have for all our service men and women who are in our Armed forces...NEVER...it is in an abundance unimaginable. What you do for us on a daily basis, while we can go on about our daily lives with no worries...because we know that you all are taking care of us...cradling America and all it stands for. Ensuring that all the world knows that you can not just come barging in here and do what they did without consequences. We are Americans and don't you forget it!

My group, The Boutique Angels Charity Organization , announced the children's charity which will receive all proceeds from our 4th Quarter launch, November 3-9, today! AND, coincidentally, it happens to be the
CHILDREN OF FALLEN SOLDIERS RELIEF FUND

Hmmmmmmm...how appropriate...it just happened that way.

Win a FREE Lounge set!

Polkadotsandpigtails is giving away a free custom sized lounge set to the winner of the Boutique Buyer's Blog contest! All you have to do is play the Designer Word Match game in the comments section!
I am one of the Designers...try to match the word that matches Mimi Kattini!

Good Luck!

Word of the Day: NEGLECT

ne-glect (n-glkt)

1. To pay little or no attention to; fail to heed; disregard

2. To fail to care for or attend to properly

Oh no...according to the definition above...I have been neglecting my blog. BUT, let's not carry that neglect over to the MANY, MANY loyal readers I have...should I look up the word: SARCASM? I'm not being sarcastic by the fact that I have loyal readers...just that I have "MANY, MANY" of them!

Neglect, I have...BUT, I have good reason. An unwanted guest arrived in our home two Sundays ago. We have been making the said guest feel very uncomfortable. We weren't really aware of how to ask this guest to politely leave us alone, and so we assumed that within time it would eventually go away...as it normally has. It had been irritating the munchkins, thus frustrating the mommy (me)...I mean really, who likes to see their children unhappy?

The guest is very rude...it didn't even send a little note, a little nudge, a small phone call to let us know that it would be arriving...it just showed up...barging...in the middle of the night! It apparently assumed that it could just come on over and we would afford it a place to spend how ever long it meant to stay with us! Grrrrrrr....

Lysol and bleach have become my constant companions...we have always been friends, however in times like these...we seem to realize how much we really, really like one another.

The guest became a nuisance on Sunday and so we loaded the munchkins in the car and decided to find out once and for all how to get rid of it. AND, we finally found out it's name....Group A. Streptococcus...it goes by the nickname "strep", but I don't want it to feel any more at home then it already does...so I'll just call it Mr. Streptococcus. Hah...and get this, it had a friend...Respiratory Infection (no middle initial)! It all makes so much sense now!

Well, needless to say we were given a couple of medications to give to Mr. Streptococcus and it's friend, a sort of kryptonite for unwanted visitors. We are on day three of the dosing and I think I see them packing their bags. I'm going to show them the door here in just a moment and won't even shake their hands ...yes, I am going to be an ill-mannered hostess *gasp*, no hug or kiss on the cheek from me! No, I will simply usher them out with a graceful wave of my hand.

I shall be thinking in my head, "Go on, get out and take your friend with you...you've wreaked enough havoc on my munchkins!
Excuse me for a minute...*cough, cough*... don't even think about coming back to this house...next time we won't be so nice!"