Friday, November 29, 2013

Thankful

Celebrating awesome parent-teacher conferences for the big boys!
Little guy eating a big cinnamon roll
My grain free pies: apple & sweet potato. The crusts got burned but they were still pretty good . Plus, John got to enjoy "pumpkin" pie for the first time in many years!
My 4 favorite people, all ready for Thanksgiving dinner.
Decorating the tree amidst a little snowstorm.

So thankful!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The Knee

Since my last post, I've decided that I think this is actually knee surgery #4, not 5. My mistake.

John is almost a week post-op, and he's going back to work tomorrow. I think it will be a harsh wake-up call for him, but we'll see. So far his recovery hasn't been spectacular, but that probably goes without saying given the number of knee surgeries he has had.

The boys are definitely enjoying the extra Dad time though, and they have been playing lots of games, reading books, and watching movies together. The last knee surgery was when Archer was just a few months old, and this time has been a lot easier with the kids anyway!
Playing cards
Surgeon P operating on A's knee

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Vegas

John and I got back from a Vegas mini-vacation last night. I say "vacation" but technically John was working. Technically. 

Anyway, last week he went to part 2 of a dental implant course in So. Cal., then he had to fly straight to Vegas. Given that I have been solo-parenting for quite a bit over the past month (Vegas was work trip #3 for John), and John is scheduled for knee surgery today, my parents took pity on me and came up to stay with the boys while I joined John in Vegas. 

I've said it before (like last summer when we went to Vegas for another work trip), but I really do not get the Vegas appeal. It stinks like smoke everywhere, everything is LOUD, and there are crowds. Buuuuut, the weather...it was between 75-80 degrees every day we were there. I get the appeal of that! I read by the pool, soaked up some vitamin D, and relaxed while John was busy with work stuff. 

In the evenings we got to...
night #1: see cirque du soleil, Beatles LOVE. 

Night #2: eat at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant (yum!), then see David Copperfield. 

Night #3: go to "The Bash" put on by the conference John was there for. We got to see Brian Setzer Orchestra, and then Big & Rich, along with Cowboy Troy! B & R put on a great show and it was a good way to end our trip. 

I also took some random pictures of things that I thought the boys would especially like to see. Despite the amount of families with young children there, I don't plan to ever take my kids there, so pictures will have to do!
At the Rainforest Cafe in our hotel
Harley Davidson store
New York New York & the rollercoaster
Jelly Belly Statue of Liberty
Excalibur (or the castle, as we told the kids)
The dragon store
Tornadoes/whirlpools (?) 
Ice Columns
And finally...John and his friend/coworker who spent the entire flight home huddled over Candy Crush. 

We came home exhausted and still on Vegas time (going to bed waaaaaaay too late), but excited to see the boys, who were up bright and early this morning of course!

It was a nice getaway, but time to get back to reality - and preparing to take care of John after knee surgery #5.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Halloween

2 Ninjas, and Jake (the Neverland pirate!).

I only made 1/3 this year and ended up buying the ninja costumes due to "time constraints" - or procrastination then panic. Whatever. It was hard to not feel disappointed during the school costume parade when my boys had generic costumes, but it's okay. Next year will be better. And Jake was still pretty cute!

We had a super fun Halloween. The boys attempted to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, but we only had success at one house (and the other neighbor had given the boys their Halloween treats earlier in the week...so sweet of them to think of our boys)! The one house where someone answered the door, they told us that they were hoping we'd stop by since they bought candy just for the boys. Our neighbors are very thoughtful, but sadly we don't live in a popular T-o-T neighborhood. 

But that's okay! Because we have friends who do. We headed over to a friends house for chili, hot drinks, and lots of trick-or-treating. The boys had so much fun running around with their friends. They ended up doing way more trick-or-treating than our customary 10 houses or so. I was cold and tired, but we took shifts - out with the kids or warming up by the fire. Plus we had adult time as well when the kids were gorging on candy. All in all, a great night!

B in the costume parade at school (so hard to get a good picture!)
The big ninja!
My cute little Jake
Striking a pose before heading out for candy!
The boys with their pumpkins. With John's pumpkin seed allergy, this is our version of "carving" pumpkins.
John made us some pretty awesome vampire fangs!