A Quick Post for My Parents

Hi Mom and Dad! *Imagine me saying that in my 'Hi Cornelia, sweetie' voice from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory*

We have a little somethin' somethin' for ya, and by 'little somethin' somethin'' I mean random pictures about everything and nothing. It's officially Fall in my book. The mornings are chilly and at times foggy and my air conditioner no longer needs to be turned on. Sad face. So we decided to ring in October with a bit of Halloweenyness. Yup, that's a word.

While we were in North Carolina it rained all but one day. It's all good though because this is when we get most creative. We decided to leave Daddy with something to remember us and Halloween by, so we bought a pumpkin and all pitched in to paint it. Oh and let me first mention that I drove 13 hours and arrived at 5am after barely making it due to damn near running out of gas...I never carry cash and my debit card suddenly started getting declined near the end of the trip despite the fact that I had money in my account. And of course it was 4 in the morning so the bank wasn't open for me to figure out what was going on. After spend $30 that I had pulled out earlier in the week with the intent to pay a friend with, my car showed that when I pulled in the boyfriend's driveway I had less than two miles of gas left in my tank. Talk about close call. Turns out my bank's fraud department froze my account since I was spending "outside" my "normal spending habits"...thanks USAA, I guess, except I was almost stranded with three kids and a cat on a Saturday morning in an unfamiliar town. Can you tell I'm still bitter? And can you see the hot mess I was upon arrival? That face says so much...

I guess it's a good thing my girlfriend had Friday off so I was unable to give her the cash I had. Otherwise I'd been shit outta luck. But enough pissing and moaning. Where were we? Ah, yes, pumpkin...

We didn't have a vision, we just dove right in and began painting - Bear cub supervised.

When Bear grows up he wants to learn how not to be afraid to go out in the rain. But until that day comes he'll remain inside and watch me as I take pictures of the dreariness.

And when you ring in the Fall you have to include cupcakes. It's a part of the rules.

And when you give the kids a cupcake (or five) you have to include the massive German Shepherd too (sans icing of course).

But not until he shows you those smooth listening skills Daddy has taught him over the past few months.

Down. Stay.

GET IT! ...so fast that Mommy can hardly get a photo of you.

Why you ragin' Bear? We just gave you a cupcake...

And you have to take advantage of the crisp weather on days that don't bring rain - here's where put-put golf comes in to play. This is beginning to sound like the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

And am I the only one that noticed rule number two? Uh, I think we may have a problem if Baby Rumbarger(s) ever come to fruition - I call that Large Family Discrimination, let's all protest! No? Mmkay.

Leave it to Ari to find an insect and remove her shoes within the first 20 minutes of our arrival. Oh, and to look cute doin' it.

We had a good time. Their faces said it all.

Even if we did have to go chasing after our balls more than a few times. Get your head out of the gutter.

Fall also means the boyfriend and I have our wedding anniversary. It'll be four years in November - that's half a decade! That's...like...whoa! We wanted to celebrate while we were together, even if it was a little less than a month early. And since it was a trip to see Daddy, and we wanted to soak up all the family time we could, we turned it into a family affair thanks to the kids. What they did for us was adorable, but you'll have to wait for those deets closer to our actual anniversary, besides, I didn't give the boyfriend his present yet.

All in all we had a great time, even if Owen does look like he's suffering from a lack of oxygen. That kid and his faces, smh...

Cupcakes and Puppy Dogs

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a dog person. Now calm down and don't send me hate mail, it's okay if I don't think a dog is the equivalent of a child, just like it's okay for ya'll to put Mr Pinky in a sweater and call him your "baby." 

I say all of this because the topic at hand is Bear, our German Shepherd. 

He's loyal and good-looking and I feel safe with him in the house when Seth's out of town. But my goodness he's a handful. He listens when and if he wants. He has torn up every kitchen rug I've ever purchased. He ate a pair of my brand-new $120 running shoes. He walks me, rather than letting me walk him. He jumps on people when he's excited. And the list goes on. To put it simply, he's the German Shepherd version of Marley from Marley and Me. Seriously people, he's caused fights between Seth and I. It's said that financial conflicts is the number one reason for marital distress - for us, it's the damn dog, not money. 

I will admit that Bear has been oddly obedient lately. He listens when I yell, "out" for playing too rough with Jersey (our cat). He hasn't chewed up my new rug in the kitchen and he hasn't pounced on any visitors. But today…today he was his old self again. Would you like to know why I say that?

Because I left a chocolate cupcake on the ottoman in the living room as I went to get a drink from the kitchen and when I came back he was polishing off my evening snack. He looked at me, licked his lips, then lowered his head in shame as if he knew he messed up. 

I immediately panicked (yes, even though I could live without him I still care about his health). The first thing that popped in my head was the story a co-worker just recently told me about her dog almost dying from eating a large amount of chocolate. So I jumped online and found out that he'd be just fine. But it made me want to share what I found - it's a cool little chart that shows the amount of chocolate that can cause negative effects on a dog based on the dog's weight. 

In order for my monster puppy to feel any side effects he'd have to eat almost a pound of chocolate. And for it to be potential deadly he'd have to consume four pounds. If I ever have four pounds of chocolate in my home we have a serious problem and need to reevaluate our grocery shopping skills. Therefore, I don't think that'll ever be an issue.

And would you like to know how I confirmed that I am not a dog person? I may or may not have had a fleeting thought about how much a vet bill would be if I needed to take him in and immediately wanted to curse him.

Just being honest.

The Best Christmas Present Ever

It's hard to believe, but my baby turned 6 years old on Monday. It seems like just yesterday I was at the hospital asking the nurse if the two of us could go home. I didn't care that I had just delivered him less than an hour prior. I was a seasoned professional. A mom thrice over. I didn't have time for hospital stays away from my two other children. And I didn't wanna sleep in a hospital bed and eat their food. I wanted to take my baby and go home.

Buuuuut, the nurse quickly laid the smack down (do cool kids still say that? "Lay the smack down" ???). But I did manage to get us out of there a day early. Six years later and my little guy is all boy. All the time. 

He wasn't due until 6 January. But apparently he had other plans. So six days before Christmas in 2005, I got the best present ever. Owen Miles. 

You know it's some serious sleep when ur mouth is open

He was 7lbs 6oz and didn't even wait for the doctor to arrive before making his debut into the world. Admittedly, I waited far too long to go to the hospital to begin with. But I hate hospitals. And didn't wanna get there and have contractions for 8 hours. I wanted to get there and have a baby. And that's what I did - a few contractions and a single push later and baby number three was in the world. If only labor had been that quick and easy with my first.

So Monday was my monkey's sixth birthday.

He started the morning by busting through his door-o-streamers that I taped up for him. I thought he'd get a kick out of breaking throughout them the second he woke up.

And since he shares a room with Ethan (and Ari had slept in there the night before for a slumber/movie party), I left a note for E and Ari instructing them to go through the bathroom (which attaches to the boys' bedroom) if they wanted to exit the room prior to Owen waking up in order to preserve the integrity of the door-o-streamers (you like what I did there? …made it sound all sophisticated by using words like 'preserve' and 'integrity').

Then what did we do - you ask? Did I make him a huge breakfast? Nope. I intended to; my little guy loves bacon and pancakes (in that order). But he wanted pie (we celebrated Christmas the day before so we had plenty of pie), so naturally, I let the kid eat pie for breakfast. Don't judge me - it's what any good parent would've done. 

Then I baked his cake (he wanted a repeat of last year's monkey cake) along with some cupcakes. All the while, big sister Ana baked him a mini-monkey cake. 

Super cute - that girl.

As for dinner, I planned to make Owen his favorite (ribs, mac n' cheese, etc.) but that went just as well as my breakfast plan. He said he wanted, "Orange chichen (chicken) from Panda Express." Then he changed it to Golden Corral (which I was dreading because I hate buffets, just call me a food snob), then he wanted Chuck-e-Cheese, then he was just as confused as me and Seth and soon had no clue what he wanted. We showed him some local places online and he decided on Fat Daddy's Pizza. It has an arcade/game area along with a little pizza restaurant. The pizza was super yummy and the birthday boy schooled me in a game of air hockey.

From there we went ice skating, which was a first for all of us, except Seth. I swear, it seems as though he's been everywhere and done everything. I want to go to the North Pole, but guess what, Seth went every summer as a child. I wanna base jump off the Sears Tower, but guess what, Seth just did that last weekend. Okay, those are sliiiight exaggerations, but seriously, you know what I mean - it just seems like he's tried everything at least once. Wait…that didn't sound right…

Ice skating began with Owen getting on the ice and immediately wanting off. I asked him to just go around once with me and halfway through his first lap my little guy was hooked.

He loved it. The look and smile on his face was exactly what I live for. 

Check out that one-legged-crossed-foot-half-sit maneuver - I give 'im a solid '10'

As with most things, Ari quickly got the hang of it and after we swapped E's ice-skates out for a bigger size he was diggin' it too. 

Then, of course, we came home to cake (that Owen modified by adding a nose) and cupcakes and presents and trick candles that didn't work. 

And if you talk to Owen about what he can and cannot accomplish, he'll quickly tell you, "I can do that, I'm not twwwwwooooo, I'm SIX!"

But if you ask me, the kid doesn't look a day over 5 and a half. What can I say? He's got some good genes.

Happy Birthday to my bright-eyed, witty, rambunctious, beautiful baby boy.

Xo,

Lor