Wordless Wednesday: Supermarket Snacker

Right before "Night Night"

Ish and I have a new nightly routine. When we get home from grandma's house Ish plays for a bit while I do a few chores to get us ready for the night. Then we "sit sit" together on the chair-and-a-half that Ish believes is mine and mine alone - we watch Toy Story for the bazillionth time and we have a little snack.
Ish prefers snacks of the grape variety.
So we sit for a while, watch Woody save Buzz, then Buzz save Woody, and Ish gets sleepier and sleepier...
Then he gets this look on his face - the face of complete out-of-his-mind-tired (though he'll deny it if asked).
So then we go upstairs, take a quick bath and it's off to beddie-bye for young Ish. And then I get to come back downstairs, sit in my chair-and-a-half all alone and watch something - anything really - that doesn't have Tom Hanks or Tim Allen in it.

Mare Mare's Big Day

Today was cousin Maryann's 1st birthday party. When we got there I tried my best to get a good shot of the birthday girl, but my attempts were futile - she was more interested in the food!
Once cousin Alex showed up Ish was in heaven. He let her carry around the hall while he snacked on bread.
Lunch was Ish's favorite - chicken strips and mac & cheese.
He sat nice because Alex and Ashley sat with us.
After lunch it was time for the pinata - Ish got to go first.
After the kids failed to get it open, I may or may not have just pulled a bunch of the strings myself to get the party started! It was a free-for-all of candy and small toys.
Then is was cake time!
Mare Mare enjoyed her serenade.
And though she may look uninterested in her smash cake in this picture, believe me, she wasn't.
See - I told you!

Happy Birthday Mare Mare!!!!

Wordless Wednesday: Ish's Idol

Mr. Fix It

Ish was quite the little helper over the weekend - helping daddy put together a new toy shelf for the basement. Naturally, Manny's tools were the right fit for the job.

Oh right, I didn't do a Thanksgiving recap

I'm a little bummed that I didn't get a bunch of pictures this Thanksgiving. But even without photographic evidence, I will certainly remember this one!

Somewhere around 5AM Ish woke up. So Matt went and got him out of his crib and brought him into our bed, in the hopes that maybe we could all snooze just a little while longer. Then Matt turned to me and said "Do you feel cold?" And yes, I did feel cold. So he went to investigate why our normally blazing hot bedroom was stone cold. And he found the answer: we were out of fuel.

We have a plan with our oil company - we pay them a flat monthly fee and they make sure we are always full. It's called the "Automatic" plan. It's actually quite convenient for us - we don't ever have to think about our oil level, when we're getting a fill up, etc. It just happens. But apparently, the last automatic fill didn't happen.

So Matt called the emergency number for the oil company and got voicemail (of course). The house was somewhere in the mid-60s and getting colder. With no heat or hot water the best course of action was to leave the house. So I dressed Ish, packed a light bag for me and Matt and we headed to my mom's house somewhere around 6:30 in the morning. We were headed there for Thanksgiving dinner anyway, but certainly not that early! And in my haste to pack a few shower/clothing essentials, I forgot to pack my camera.

When we got to my mom's house we showered and dressed and just hung out. Matt had to deal with multiple phone calls to the oil company (who at first tried to blame us for this problem before they realized THEY screwed up). After several hours of promising us they would be at our house asap, they finally arrived to give us 10 gallons of emergency fuel somewhere around 6:30PM. About 13 hours after our initial phone call to them.

Needless to say, it was an eventful day. Matt ran to the house at one point to check on things and grabbed my camera on his way back, but I just wasn't in a picture mood. Sad to say, I only took a handful of pics.

Here's Ish enjoying a pre-meal snack of olives. He insisted that I pick them out of the salad that was pre-made for dinner. He ate about half a can of olives on his own!
And here he is using his new Tinkerbell doll as a seat. He insisted on getting this stuffed doll when he took a run to Sears earlier in the morning with Matt and my dad. He uses it as a pillow, a chair, a weapon, you name it.
And that's all I got. Cute, but there were so many other cute moments I wish I captured. I'll be sure to do better on Christmas.

Black Friday is Overrated

Seriously, I remember when it used to be fun. We used to get up "early" (the earliest the stores opened was 6 - not this 10PM-2AM, 3AM stuff). I actually attempted to go to Toys R Us last night for a Buzz Lightyear deal. I drove up to see a packed parking lot and a line extending around the building. It was cold and there was a bit of a freezing rain falling. So no thank you. I drove right on by and went home.

I think the bulk of my shopping will be done online this year. And where you ask - where else but CSN stores! They certainly have everything you can think of for gifts - toys for the kiddies, cookware for the chefs, leather messenger bags for the working moms and dads in your life, etc.

So I think I'll stay in my nice warm house with my cute little kid and shop from home this year.

What are your shopping plans?