today was a good day

~except for one little thing. a wasted 2 hours. (*who am i kidding - i waste 2 hours in the am and the pm on most days... um. everyday, i mean*)

it started with a bright idea this morning before even getting out of bed. i was determined to make it a fun morning for the middle child and the neglected baby. jackson would be at school, and i would take brady and carter to the mall in durham - about 40 minutes away.

so - jackson was dropped off in all his kindergarten glory, and we returned home just long enough to get b & c into daytime clothes. it took a little wrestling with brady boo, as he is EXTREMELY attached to a certain new pair of jammies that is covered in bugs that he just got from granny carol. here's the best pose i got from him after he ran upstairs, picked out some clothes all by himself, and put on wardrobe change numero uno:


what you can't see is the buzz lightyear logo and neon green stripe down the other leg of the navy blue pants. ANOTHER thing you can't see is the front of the shirt hiked up a little too far up the front of his neck, as only a backwards applied shirt can do.

back to my story. i did get him to change his clothes (a dino t-shirt went well with the buzz pants - cause there was neon green in it, dontcha know?!). we packed our bags for the mall, and were on our way. i even had the forethought to go to our media rack and pull down a few dvds that we hadn't watched in a good 2 months. as much as i love the backyardigans, i can only handle so much. so i picked 2 different baby einsteins and meet the robinsons. LOVE that movie.

we got there fine. we got into the mall fine. this is where the story gets hairy. we even got to the play area ZPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP (think the sound of a record scratching, k?) or what used to be the play area. just. fine.

i wish WiSh WISH i had gotten the memo that the play area at the southpoint mall was going to be under renovations during the month of DECEMBER?!?!?!!!!!!! i did not. i would have loved to complain to someone about how horrible their timing was, but i'm naturally a pretty UN confrontational kinda gal - and who am i kidding - would ANYTHING come of it if i acted like i owned the place and my kids were let down by their untimely decision to makeover my FAVORITE play area in the whole. wide. world?! nope.

we walked around a bit. i EVEN took about 3 minutes of our precious wasted time to venture into SPENCER'S!! on purpose, y'all. no metion of the things i saw while in there that i had no intentions of seeing. that's a whole 'nother post. i had an item in mind for my kids! LOL! not kidding. before you lose your breath, i had only the most g-rated item to buy - glow in the dark stars - and let me just tell you - jackson's feelings on the matter can be summed up with these words... "mom - our house is like a museum!!!" he then went on to explain that we have 2 fish, all kinds of musical instruments and now, best of all, star stickers. a planetarium, even.

so that's the summary of the morning i didn't plan on being so wasted, which after all, was not entirely wasted, and how it actually did not ruin my day.

so without any further adieu, let me outline some of the reasons... today was a good day...

1. i showered. and it was way before we needed to be hunkering down on getting-out-the-house routine stuff.

2. carter seems to be responding to his antibiotic he's been on for 3 days for an ear infection. slept well last night - and has eaten like he ought to today.

3. brady's first outfit really did make me smile. when i asked him if i could take his picture, he said, "yes, take a picture of me sleeping." that's what i got!

4. rodney brought home a lovely gift from a coworker - salted pecans.

5. i washed my favorite white sheets (which normally are only off my bed long enough to get laundered), and have actually already gotten to bathe myself in all their cloroxed AND fabric softened glory.

6. ^that one took place from about 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm tonight. i watched oprah, the rest of my dvr'd lifetime movie about amber frye, AND the white house christmas special, recorded last night on TNT.

7. while executing number 6, i saw "straight no chaser" perform a pretty cool version of "the 12 days of christmas." (mr. linky) and best of all...

8. also on the tnt white house christmas special, casting crowns sang a beautiful arrangement of "i heard the bells on christmas day." this is one of my favorite christmas songs this year - my choir is singing it on the 28th (not this version) - and the resounding message of "peace on earth" gives me chills. here's a youtube video of the song... enjoy. :)




sorry i ended up being so long winded. i sat down with intentions to write for 5 minutes, tops. for some reason, that's increasingly hard to do.

i've almost forgotten

how to log into my blogspot.

'tis the season to be busy. and sick. and busy.

i'm pleased to report that business is going well... i have had 10 photo sessions over the last 6 weeks or so, and a steady set of 4 piano students each week, whom i just adore, so i will absolutely not complain.

jackson is doing so well at school. he never complains about going (at least 98% of the time), and has a few really good friends - who also love pokemon. good times. he's currently sporting a sweet haircut from the harkers island barber extraordaire, mr. paul wade, and could not be more of a stud muffin. i think he's grown about an inch this week. i feel like he has, anyway. ;)

brady got a haircut today, from mommy. he was a little less than well behaved, and kept saying "i don't like that this is taking so long!" as i gently replied, "but if you'll sit still and stop wiggling, i'll be done in one minute..." that didn't stop the wiggling, as you can imagine. even though he didn't earn a grab from the candy bowl atop the refrigerator (as we always do after a haircut with mommy with good behavior), he's still a big bowl of sugar, himself. after the lights go out, we can generally find brady nestled up in his bed surrounded by no less than 10-15 stuffed animals. some bigger than he is. each night when i do my 11:00ish check, before hitting the pillow myself, i uncover him from the rubble, situate him back on his "real" pillow at the head of the bed, and help the other members of the slumber party find a better resting spot at the foot of the bed, where no one is threatened by loss of oxygen, or even worse, waking up with a crink in the neck!

carter just got a haircut today too. cut most of those sweet little curls right off, but i know they'll grow back. they always do. on his head, at least. have i mentioned how entertained he is by the backyardigans, as of late!? seriously - the boy would watch 15 episodes a day, if i'd let him. mingled with one or two episodes of the wiggles and sesame street (for the love of sir elmo, mind you). i declare, i'd love to be the marketing genius (or at least be in his/her mind for a few moments) who comes up with such characters. aside from his love for all things tv, he's become a big fan of dum-dums lately. i think it started on the way out of our last doctor's appointment. i guess there are worse things than rotten baby teeth! LOL!

well, cyber friends and real life friends and family - i just wanted to post a quick little update to remove the guilt that i've been burdened with for the last couple weeks. HAHA! i have a feeling i'll be back sooner than later with something else not too important to share - but hopefully still worth jotting down for posterity! that's the goal. :)

adios.

isms

my favorite brady-ism from today...

we were hanging out at the computer together, watching youtube videos of dinosaurs. i clicked on one. he hesitantly spoke these words. "don't do that one. that one makes me pee."

my favorite jackson-ism from these past couple weeks that he's said repeatedly..used most often when he's lit up about wanting me to give him something, be it a new pokemon card, a cup of chocolate milk, or otherwise...

"do you think i can just get it from my head!?"

then he smiles. and hangs his jaw open like he's pleased with himself for making a funny.

it's autumn time!

Not much is cooler than "AUTUMN TIME!" in my book. Yes I capitalized it on purpose. It was a friendly scream. An enthusiastic scream. An e-scream!

But, there is one thing cooler than "AUTUMN TIME!"

It's Harkers Island during "AUTUMN TIME!" Since I first went away to ECU in the fall of '98 I realized how much I miss "home" during this particular season. As luck would have it, autumn was being ushered in while Jackson had a little track out from Kindergarten. So, the three amigos and I hit the road, and headed down there a while back (I know this should have been posted closer to the end of October, but I say "better late than never" with no hesitations).

I have to share some of my favorite snapshots from the little adventure.

These first couple are of the birds. (Zoom in and look in the right half...) In Ma and Pa's backyard. We watched and watched while they chirped and sang and pecked and chirped. :)




Carter realized this past trip down that he loves bats!

And birds too!


Aly let me tag along and observe one of her little shoots! This link takes you to pics from that particular shoot, even! :) Thanks so much Aly!


Carter playing football


Just like the rest of 'dem BOYS!
































Carter in his jammies. I'll go ahead and use "God bless" on him one more time tonight. Seems fitting...






Whoever said that mosquitoes don't attack at the end of October hadn't been to Harkers Island! Zoom in for closeups of the neck and forehead!




Birds of a feather...


And enjoying a feast at the Homestead. What could be better? :)



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Oh, and lastly, before I forget,

Just for grins and giggles - do go back up to the football pictures, and pay attention to how often Jake (Red shirt) and Zac (Red shorts) seem to go at it! LOL! They'd pass for brothers, if the tendency to tackle the snot out of the other has anything to do with it!

pictures and pictures and pictures

Happy Halloween, y'all.

Oh, what's that? It's the end of November? No. It. Is. Not. You're Crazy.

Oh, what's tha? I'm crazy? Seriously? You're going to try to tell me I'm the crazy one when you're the one insisting that Thanksgiving is in two days. LOL!

*rolls eyes*

Whatever.

Here are our family's favorite Halloween pictures!

Brady with the white pumpkin he chose at the 45 second mark.


No changin' his mind. (Kinda like his mommy, ya think?!)



10 minutes later... Then there's this boy. Mr. Perfectionist *slash* "I must study out each and every one, and find the one with the best value, the fewest blemishes, and that sings to me." That's My Jackson!



The pose they gave me when I said to sit in a "catcher's squat behind the pumpkins!"



Then something got there attention... Over there...


Gangsta Brady.


Again.


Jackson is not quite as Gangsta as Brady. More Garilla.


God bless the child... that's got his own... pumpkin.


Carter fiddlin' with the gourds






Brady down with a final Gangsta flash. "L" cause Leah is muy Loco.


Daddy enjoyin' a day off with the best of the best...



The next few pictures are from Rodney's AWESOME work party on Halloween Day! They open their doors to the kiddies and their baggies to trick or treat to their hearts' content. My boys had big bags AND big hearts.

Contentment - check. (***ThAnK yOu GeNwOrTh***)


****~*~*~*~*~*~*~Yoda in the Hizzouse! ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*********