Nonsense From Wonderland

I didn’t get around to posting ON Peyton’s birthday, so here are a few pics from his birthday, which was last Thursday.  He had a great day, and was thrilled to finally get his DS he’s been begging for for the last 6 months!  We had taffy apple pizza before heading down to Denver to Amazing Jake’s, bringing along Peyton’s friend Blake.  The boys had a great time.  The food at Jake’s was not all that great, and it was a bit pricey for what it was IMO, but we had a blast w/laser tag and the bumper cars.  The day after his bday we headed up to Buffalo for my cousin Aaron’s wedding.  It was a lot of fun, and of course the cake rocked, because it was made by mom .  Peyton’s always had a cake made by mom and/or sis on his bday, so sis made him the cute pizza cake in the pics below.  We stayed up there until Monday.  I got talked into buying a DS on our trip up.  I’ve talked about having one for a while, so Jason told me we weren’t leaving Caspser until I bought one!  LOL   Just so happened that the new Best Buy opened in the mall that day, so we took advantage of the buy 2 get one free sale on games.  I got Magician’s Quest Mysterious Times, Peyton got Zelda Phantom Hourglass, and Breck got Starfy.  I’m sharing games with them, since they have a bunch.  Today I bought Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, and have been cruising Ebay for more games.

The kids will be heading to Buffalo soon for their summer time stay w/Ammie and Pa!  They are going later than usual this year, due to baseball being drug out, from all the rained out games.  Peyton’s team is in the championship tomorrow!  Breck’s team got knocked out in their first game.  The crazy thing is, he’ll be jumping right into soccer as soon as he gets back!  I have to take a class the first week of August, but other than that, I don’t think we have anything major planned.  Our 12th anniversary is coming up.  No clue what we’ll do for that–something lowkey I’m sure.  Hard to believe summer’s coming to an end and I’ll be back at work next month.  This has been an incredibly mild summer. 

Peyton's 11th birthday...w/Blake and Brecken

Yummy pizza cake made by Auntie P!

I used to have a “100 Things About Me” list on one of the many old versions of my site, and after seeing my SIL Deb do it, I figured I would resurrect and freshen it up a bit here in a post.  I am hoping I have the old version saved somewhere, so I don’t have to retype it all! 

We did get to see Inkheart on Sunday, and loved it.  I have to finish the book!  I’ve been trying to read it for 2 years, but as usual, I put one book down to read 3 others!  I bought Inkspell tonight, and will get Inkdeath when it comes out in paperback.  I also got the second Fablehaven book, although I’ve yet to read the first.  Again, I started it and got a chapter or two in, then moved on to other things.  I almost bought the Southern Vamp boxed set, but decided not to right now.  It’s $20 cheaper online, so I think will get it off there.  I’ve read them all, and really want to own them and reread them again.  I do love my vampire books!!  My wonderful co-workers gave me a gift card to Barnes and Noble for my bday, and I had one from Xmas.  I LOVE shopping there!  I could spend all day if I had the time.  It’s usually the boys going shopping w/gift cards, so it was nice for it to be me for a change.  However, I did fork over $$ to buy them each a book.  Brecken got something like Froggy Loves Soccer, and Peyton got the new book in the Wimpy Kid series.  Those books are a huge hit w/kids at our school, so I would like to read them myself.  I bought the first two for Peyton at our book fair last year.  I LOVE book fair time at school!  I’m a sucker for books w/cool covers, which is how I ended up with Fablehaven and Horns & Wrinkles.  I think our book fair happens in April.  The kids are able to shop during school, as well as before and after.  We usually have a family night, where the kids come to shop and play math games in their classrooms. 

Peyton had his first basketball game tonight, and did pretty well.  It was amazing to see him hustle.  I wish he would do that around here!  LOL   He’s still got some learning to do, but it looks like he is enjoying himself .  I was able to get off early to see him.  We’ve been having crappy weather this week, so the rural busses didn’t run two days, and we’ve been inside a lot for recess.  Due to the weather, my Skills for Success class was cancelled last night and rescheduled for next week.  It’s a class about dealing w/people of all personality types, dealing w/stress, etc.  I have a class tomorrow, for the primary math program we use.  I am pretty familiar w/it, as I use it w/some of my kids, and have seen it w/my own boys, but it’s nice to find out the reasons why we use these things.  Math is taught in such a different way than I remember it!  We always seemed to just have to “know” the stuff, whereas now it’s all about the strategies. 

So I never did post what I got for my bday.  Jason went crazy and got me a Bose Sound Dock for my iPod.   I LOVE that thing!  It’s got such amazing sound, and I’m hearing things in songs that I didn’t really hear before.  I was so surprised.  Really had no clue what he was getting me, but he was very excited about it, and so was I when I opened it!  I saw the box and said, “Is that really what it is?”  LOL   My sis gave me a gorgeous H shaped jewelry box that helps silver to not tarnish.  Inside was a really pretty necklace that has two circles on it, etched w/the boys’ names.  My parents gave me a Twilight puzzle, Twilight magnets, Twilight hoodie (w/the Cullen crest on it-WOOHOO!), brown Skechers, a new hand mixer and $ in my card.  I used the money to go towards Little Big Planet for the PS3.  That game is so freaking cute and addictive.  We laugh a lot playing it!  I felt very spoiled this year!

Breck and I went to the dentist this week, and he has more cavities…sigh.  The hygenist said he brushes very well, but for whatever reason, he’s getting cavities.  Peyton, on the other hand, has not always been the best about brushing, but hasn’t a single cavity (KNOCK ON WOOD!).  Next week Breck will get one filled for sure, and we’ll see about the others.  Our dentist needs to check the records from the peds dentist.  I am having our regular dentist do the filling this time instead of the peds.  I’d just prefer to be at our dentist, as there is no reason for Breck to have sedative anymore, which is the only reason we went to the peds in the first place.  Last time we went I asked them to do it without, because I hate the way it makes him get–very loopy, and he can’t walk after.  It’s a lot more expensive to get fillings at the peds too!

Well, I suppose that is enough blabbering for tonight.  We’re catching up on The Mentalist.  I am anxious to get into Lost.  I really have no TV time lately.  We did get done with Sons of Anarchy, which we loved!  Can’t wait for season 2.

Daddy & His Boys on His 34th Bday

I am enjoying this weekend to the fullest.  It’s nice to have Jason home for the whole thing, since he was gone so many weekends this summer.  Yesterday was Jason’s 34th birthday.  I think he had a nice day.  Since the boys have overlapping lunch times at school, Jason brought them lunch.  I got to see him, but didn’t get to visit, since I was on lunchroom duty!  For his gifts I got him the book Feasting on Asphalt: The River Run, by Alton Brown; Jimmy Buffett’s DVD of his concert at Wrigley Field; and Peyton picked MX vs. ATV for his PSP.  Peyton has the same game, and he wanted Jason to have it so they could play against each other!  My parents got him a Havoc Heli Stinger remote control copter.

This morning we kind of lazed around for a bit, then got dressed to head to Ft. Collins/Loveland.  We went to the Thunder in the Rockies rally to look for a jacket, but it was a bust, and other than seeing the cool dirt bike jumps and the ball of death, it was a waste of $30 to get in.  I seriously doubt we will go back, since we went last year too and thought it was lame.  Poor Jason is still on the hunt for a decent jacket.  Lunch was Buffalo Wild Wings.  I just LOVE that place, and always get the same thing–boneless wings, half in parmesan garlic, half in Caribbean jerk.  I eat half of them, then have the rest cold for lunch the next day.  After lunch we went shopping at Old Navy.  Jason was extremely wonderful and generous, giving me a big shopping spree.  He spoiled me rotten, to put it mildly : ).  I needed some clothes for work, and he was actually picking out things he liked!  Other than one shirt at Target, he picked everything else there.  Usually when I shop, the boys and he are off somewhere else!  They sat in the dressing room w/me giving me opinions.  We went to Target after that, and I got even more stuff!  My take on the day included 3 pairs of pants, 3 camis, black silky type shirt, thin black v-neck sweater, 2 cardigans, 2 dresses, 2 skirts, hooded shirt, and 2 pairs of black shoes.  Can’t wait to wear some of the new stuff next week!  We ran to Whole Foods Market on the way out of town, and got some “Amadeus” cheese.  We have no clue what it will be like, but it looked good!  Got home around 7 I think, and we are beat!  Just watching tv, playing online, and waiting for bedtime. 

Tomorrow I have a honey-do list that I hope will get completed.  We have a sprinkler head that needs replaced, drain that needs snaked, board to fix on the fence, lattice to fix on the deck, and wire to put up on the fence, to keep the dog from digging through to the neighbors!  At least I think we will still do the wire.  Today we put some big rocks in the holes where he dug, and he didn’t appear to dig anywhere else.  I need to do first of the month grocery shopping, and run by the library.  I have The Host on hold, and a book for Peyton.  As far as I know, we have no plans for Monday yet.  I would like to ride the motorcycles to the library.  I haven’t been on a ride since the boys got back, and I’m missing it.  Jason took my bike out yesterday, since I hadn’t even started it for 2 weeks, and put fresh gas in it.  It may not be much longer before I start shopping for my Harley!!! 

Here is the pic from the first day of school, since I couldn’t get it to upload the other day.

First Day of School! Aug. 27, 2008

Down the Rabbit Hole

I decided to finally get a start on this round, 1000 piece Alice in Wonderland puzzle my mom got me for my birthday this year, pictured above.  I love puzzles!  There is just something so relaxing about getting lost in the little pieces and concentrating on just that.  After last Xmas I got on a puzzle kick and bought 3.  One was Disney postage stamps, which happened to have Alice and the Mad Hatter on it, and the other was a photo mosaic of Mickey Mouse.  That was tough, because those pics were so tiny, but I finished!  The other I got was a vase of sunflowers on a table, but it’s kind of a cheap puzzle, so the pieces don’t stay together too well.  It’s currently rolled up in the puzzle mat.  I like to glue the puzzles together, but haven’t found a good way to display them yet.  I asked the boys to come help me find the edge pieces, and that lasted all of about 3 min., until they got distracted by Transformers (which looks so awesome in HD!).  Since I haven’t made any goodies in a long time, I decided to make these bars that were on the side of the Chocolate Chex box.  They have peanuts and M&Ms in them, and are mixed w/melted sugar, corn syrup, and peanut butter.  I’ll probably have to run to the store after bit.  Trying to figure out dinner for the next couple of days, and I’m leaning towards turkey burgers and spaghetti. 

Tomorrow is Breck’s first soccer game.  He looks so adorable in his soccer gear.  After the game we’ll go to Farmer’s Market if there is time, then off to the library.  We have games to return, and the boys want to play on the giant chess set, which is always so popular, it’s sometimes hard to get in on it.  We have one of the coolest libraries.  In Sept. it will be 1 year since they opened, and this year they were picked for Library of the Year.  There is an article about it on the website.  I definitely go to the library more now than I did before the new one was built.  Our old one was just so small and blah.  The new one is so bright and inviting, w/lots of neat furniture and little nooks.  I’m hoping to finish Masquerade tonight, so I can take it back tomorrow.  I have Tommyland on hold, so hopefully it’s good.  Sis and I glanced through it at B&N, and it seems like there is a lot on Pamela Anderson, who I can stomach.

I got one of Jason’s birthday presents ordered, and will have to wait until his actual birthday to finish up (payday!).  Luckily I have a few ideas, because usually it’s hard for me to pick stuff.  He can buy whatever he wants, whenever he wants, so I always seem to gravitate towards movies and games for him.  For his cake this year, he wants the peppermint patty cake roll.  It’s soooo good–chocolate cake, rolled up w/homemade cream filling that is sprinkled w/cut-up peppermint patties.  There is a powdered sugar icing drizzled over the top, and more patties on top!