Halloween was a spooky blast.
Randy was Ozzy Ozbourne...dressed up for work. I've been told pics are coming and will share the joy when they get here.
Mama was a bloody nurse, "Ms. Cutter". Complete with bloody band-aids and a bio-hazard bag that I grabbed from work. Had you seen me, I would have scared the fiddle out of you.
Boston put us all in our place with his SWAT gear. He even gave Randy a taste of police brutality by smacking him on the leg with his baton. That was fun.
And in light of the fact that everything happy in Quinton's life gets a "choo-choo" and a point, he was Thomas the Tank Engine. Yes, he has followed suit and is an avid train lover. We are re-running our life from 3 years ago with Thomas videos, Bertie engines and track galore. You wish you could be so lucky.

Husband wants me to start the blog again.
So he knows what 's going on in our house.
And can read about his kids at work.
So in honor of our Papa, let the blogging commence.

The typical shot of Quinton these days. When the camera come out, he only stops screaming when I give him the lens cap and then spends the rest of the time trying to put it back on.
Toddlers rock.

Happy 6th.

Happy Birthday Boston
6 years old, huh.

I know it's a couple weeks early, but your father could not wait to buy you this. Then he only waited 2 days after buying it to give it to you. I think he figures the entire month of March is alright for birthday gifts.

Ever since you were able to speak the word "motorcycle", Dad has wanted to buy you one. I'm surprised he waited this long. In his younger days, Dad worked at a motorbike school in California, so I am anticipating a race track in your near future.
I'm glad that the two of you have found something of mutual interest.


You deserve it. You work hard to make us happy and have been such a good kid this year.
You must be a little saint with budding angel wings to withstand everything.

This past year has had it's challenges.
Your Dad and I had somewhat of a rough spot last summer and then he lost his job.
You were a real trooper, even though you were so stressed and worried you developed a facial tick. Sorry about that.




Are you happy? I'm happy. You make me happy.

There have never been 2 boys more appreciated than you and your brother. You are still an amazing gift that came to me because I never stopped believing in the goodness of the world.

I love you. Even when you put stickers on the wall, or when you can't remember where any of your jackets are, and even when your ball "accidently" breaks the ceiling fan in the kitchen.

There is nothing you could do that would make me love you any less. Honest.

Happy Birthday to the sweetest 6 year old this side of the Mississippi.

xoxo
Mom

A Year Later

A little bigger but just as cute.
Since it's been several weeks since anyone in the family has seen updated photos of the boys....
.
Boston is still just as photogenic and knows just how to tilt his head closer to Quinton. I LOVE Quinton's rosy red cheeks here.

For Randy

Randy needs a screen saver at his new office. So nice to say.
Here you go honey, your favorite photo of the boys:

An oldie but a goodie.

Holy Cow, its a post

Randy got his first paycheck yesterday.
We celebrated by ordering take out at the local Chinese restuarant and having it delivered.
Plus, I took the boys to Chuck-E-Cheese & spent $10.00 in tokens. What the crap.
That kind of frivolous spending is only reserved for the employed.

I am happy to report that we managed to pull off 10 weeks of unemployment.We used all of our savings, but I guess that's what savings are for. We had no cable, no date night, no movie rentals or field trips but my kids are healthy and Randy and I only fought once. Not Bad.

I will say this, if you don't have a savings account, start one.
If you don't have food storage, get it.
If you think it can't or won't happen to you, think again.

Take the extra money you have every paycheck (I know you have some) and put it in a savings account or buy extra necessities that can be used if you find yourself in a pickle.

Now I can move on to crafting and kids.

Randy got a job, yeah, yeah, yeah

He got "the" call yesterday morning.
I was busy at work and he must have called 5 times before I picked up to hear such good news.
Look at me, describing this like we won that fake check lottery from Ed McMann.
Believe me when I tell you, being out of work for 2 months and then getting a great job offer is winning the lottery.
So, in honor of our new found employment:
Randy went to the book store.
Boston got a happy meal.
Mommy priced food storage.
Quinton continued as normal.
My brother played his guitar.

These are our happy dances.

It's over, It's over

Christmas is over. I just wasn't into it this year. Not like usual.

Probably cuz my husband is slowly becoming a bored housewife man.
I came home yesterday to find him lounging on the sofa with a magazine while the house was a wreck and the kids were running around all wild & messy.
When I asked Randy if he had a rough day, his reply was, "Today was my day off".
Sweet.

My confession for the day is:
I didn't send out Christmas cards this year.
I do it every year. I never miss. I pride myself on pictures of the kids in these cute, hand crafted cards.
Every time I thought of doing it, I got puke chills down my back.
For starters, these were the best photos I could get:
Boston choking his baby brother. Great.

Quinton screaming his head off. Another great one.
No matter how cute I think this is, no one wants to see a screaming kid when they open their Christmas greetings.
And to top it off, Boston puckering his lips when I requested a smile.
"please, please, these are for Grandma".
I gave up. I just didn't have it in me.
I don't think anyone even noticed, so maybe I'll just scrap it all together. Maybe next year I wont be such a big fat Scrouge.
The jury will remain out on that one for about 11 months.

I've already taken all the tree down and the decorations have been packed up and shoved in the crawl space. That felt good.

UPDATE:
No job for the husband yet but he is looking like a mad man as the pressure from our 5 year old is pretty high.
Boston is bummed that Happy Meals haven't made the budget in some weeks now. And further that our family is on a sliding scale with Santa depending on how much Daddy works.
So when asked what we should get Daddy for Christmas, his instantaneous response was, "a job".

We are hoping for a job offer any day. If not, then look for him behind the counter at McDonald's cuz I'm sure Boston would approve of the perks.