Quirky Kids...

Kids have the habit of saying some of the funniest things, such as...

Braden was in the bathroom the other day, pants next to him on the floor. Underwear still on...and wet. I asked him if he peed in his pants he told me yes...I asked where (as in where he was when it happened, you have to watch out for puddles, ya know!) He replied it don't matter RaRa, it all melted away... (as in it had dried up...YUCK!)

Another Finn peed in his pants (ah, I love potty training) and when I asked why, he replied "I don't know know, the pee made me do it..."

Finn has a Superman shirt which he LOVES, unfortunately the other day when he went to pee he didn't realize it's kind of a big shirt and he never lifted it up which resulted on him peeing on his own shirt. I told him he had to take it off, and boy did that cause issues...

While at the nature center the one day Finn told me he could see all the ipads...I looked around very confused until I realized he meant lilly pads...technology is corrupting kids!

Braden randomly remarked the other day that "my penis is so old." I have NO idea what this means or why he said it, but it made me laugh.

Finn, "Rara, why are you drinking milk?"
Me, "Er, cos I'm thirsty?"
Finn, "But you should rather drink wine." (Is that permission from a 3 year old?)

Finn's favourite thing to say is "very know" as in "I very know RaRa." So whenever I tell him something that is his reply, and I go through the moral dilemma of correcting him, or leaving it cos it's pretty cute.

Braden while playing with my hair the other day, suddenly started spitting. I asked him what the deal was and he said, "I got close to you, then I bited your hair off..." EW!

While talking about birthdays (AJ just turned 6!) Braden was telling me alll about what type of birthday party he is going to have. I asked if I was invited to his party and he said sure, then asked when my birthday was and if he could come. I replied, "25 January, are you free that day?" He told me, "No, I'm actually five." Even though he is only three.

The other day Braden told me that sometimes it rains when the sun is shining, I told him we call that a monkeys wedding, since monkeys are so silly. Later I walked up the bike rather and Braden turned to me, Rara did you walk up that path. I told him I had, and asked if it was silly, and he said yes that's why we call it a monkey path...HAHA

When I drive the boys home from school I get to hear the cutest things such as...
Braden, "God doesn't need a car."
Finn, "No, cos he can fly."
Braden, "Yeah, but that's cos he has a cape"

Braden, "Oh no Rara."
Me, "What''s wrong Braden?
Braden, "Well that boy lost Anna. he said we are going to lose her."

*While listening to the state song and hearing Louisiana*

Finn, "Why are we gone?"
Me, "What do you mean?"
Finn, " It said are you gone?"

*While listening to the state song and hearing Oregon."

Braden, "Did you know there is a Old York?"
Finn, "Yeah"
Braden, "But this song is about the New New York."

*While listening to 'New York, New York."

Pumpkin Carving

Any time you get 6 “big” kids together, give them knifes and spoons…you know it’s going to get messy! And that is how we spent most our night at Patrick and Jenny’s pumpkin carving party. After going our selecting only the best pumpkins we could find, we all decided on what designs we would aspire to carve into our pumpkins.

Preparing :)

We also saved the seeds, and gave the guys the job of roasting them, since they all finished their designs in about 20 minutes. The guys got creative and we ended up with about 6 different flavours of seeds. Yummy!

Mine is the second to last, and Tyler's is last :)

Patrick and Jenny also hosted a cookie making party. They were so prepared and even made the dough the day before, but when we arrived we found out that refrigerated dough is a lot harder than expected. Plan B was then to send Jenny and I to the shop again to buy more ingredients, and remake a batch of dough. 

The beginning

Tyler was set on warming up the first batch. So, by the time we were done we had way more cookies than expected, since the recipe had already been doubled.  The cookies were meant to be Christmas themed, however I could not help but make a few T-Rex, cowboy boots, and bid foot shaped cookies!

Cookies!!!

The pumpkin carving affair was quite the show, I think the guys finished their pumpkins in about 10-15 minutes, while the girls easily took twice that as they were set on more intricate designs. I guess you can tell who the creative ones are…

Boys "working" hard

As for cookies my job was mainly just to sit and look pretty, something I do VERY well :P … they gave me something simple that I could not screw up even if I tried, which is good because my baking skills are very limited. The good news is that I was able to be a taste tester at the end which is also something I do VERY well. 

Go Pack Go!!!

Tyler promised me that he would arrange a Packers game for him and I to see...it took a year and a half but finally we were able align schedules and find a good game to attend.

I had no Packer gear and since the Packers are basically a religion in Wisconsin, I knew I had to get kitted up. Tyler told me he would arrange something since I had to work the whole week.

Boy did he arrange the perfect Packers outfit. Although it must be said that is is really cold in Green Bay at this time of year, which means you have to not only try represent your team and try to look cute, but you have to bundle up too. So every pee break included a 10 minute undressing period, then a 10 minute redressing period. I had to pull up my stockings, tuck in my tee shirt and long sleeve shirt, pull up my jeans, then tuck in my jacket, my over sized tee shirt, and lastly fasten my overalls.

Me with Amy (Tyler's sister) and Amanda (Tyler's cousin)

Tyler and I at the game

Walking into the game was amazing it there was a SEA of green and gold. So many die hard fans (one was even in a speedo and body paint, he must have been FREEZING!) Once seated in our metal seats (great for the cold...NOT) we prepared ourselves for the opening 'ceremonies'. These involve the American national anthem, a fly over and even a tribute to the veterans. After the anthem we were told to lift up the cardboard that was under our seats, I had a blue one. Each one had a cut out for you to look out of. The whole stadium was bathed in red, white and blue, with stars and stripes and the words 'thank you veterans'. It was pretty amazing to be apart of it.

Thank you veterans

The game was pretty good, I tried to shout at all the appropriate time, not ask too many silly questions and to argue with the refs at crucial times. You know, the important stuff.

Packers won the game so it's safe to say my first experience was pretty amazing!!! The Pack attack is back!!!

Packers vs. Cardinals

Organizing this outing was less about getting our schedules right and more about finding the right game at the right time for the right price. After the Packers won the championship a couple years ago tickets soared through the roof. Face price for one ticket is only $70 (or R 630) which is pricey, but isn't completely ridiculous. The issue with Packers tickets is though that the Packers have sold out every single game since 1960, that is an NFL record. Lambeau Field holds about 73,000 fans for each game, and every single seat in the stadium is owned by a season ticket holder which means that if you want tickets you need to buy from someone who has them, and they NEVER sell them at face price. You’d think the solution is simple, just get season tickets right? Well there is a waiting list of 82,000 people and it would take about 30+ years to get said tickets if you were to sign up today… if that doesn't give you an idea of how popular the Packers are in the state of Wisconsin I don’t know what will. All told once we finally got our tickets we ended up paying $300 for both tickets (or R 2,700.)

Tyler and I with two crazy fans (yes, they are wearing carved pumpkins on their heads)

Now as for the gear I didn't originally intend to come away with such an epic outfit, but I was wandering through a local store trying to find something that Robyn could wear but knowing it was going to be cold I had to find her something she could wear over a heavy winter coat, that is the issue with Packers games, if you just by a regular T-shirt nobody will see it because you will be wearing a winter coat over it, so you have to be creative and I would say these outfits were pretty darn creative!

As for the game itself, there is absolutely no better way to watch American football than to do so in Lambeau Field, the atmosphere is second to none and I get chills every time I walk into that stadium. The salute to the veterans was a special tribute that they did for the game we were there (Veterans day was the day before), it was really neat to see that because it isn't something they do every game. The ceremonies set the tone perfectly for the game, the Packers won in convincing fashion over the Arizona Cardinals, and while it was cold it wasn't entirely unbearable, it could have been MUCH worse. It was a great experience and one I was super excited to share with my girlfriend, now I will begin working on getting to another one!

Trick or Treat

So, It’s been way to long since I last blogged, and for this I apologize. The end of a semester is always hectic! Halloween is one of my favourite holidays since the kids absolutely love it! This year I decided to step away from the costume and remain stationary handing out candy to dinosaurs, wizards and cupcake clothed kids.

This was the first year the boys really got the concept and were extremely excited to dress up as Batman (Braden) and Superman (Finn). Annabel dressed as the spider queen, equipped with a “pet” spider on a leash.

Neighbourhood kids

The kids loved visiting all the houses and of course collecting candy!

Halloween with the kiddies :)

Tyler and I did attend a Halloween party at his mother’s house. I dressed as the tooth fairy and was able to reuse some pieces from previous years. Tyler wore a snuggi (baby carrier) with a pillow named Sugar in it …Sugar Daddy.

Bonfire, Candy Floss, Tooth fairy and a Sugar daddy!

Fun night spent around the bonfire, even if it is a little cold in Autumn.

Did I forget to mention Tyler's mom (Mary) went as a bloody Mary?  haha

We shopped for awhile trying to think of different Halloween costumes to wear, unfortunately the costumes are always super expensive, or as is the case for females the costumes are a bit shall we say revealing… yet still expensive. 

Given this we decided to just make our own and that way we were able to be creative and yet still stay warm, because after all this Halloween party was outdoors and by October in Wisconsin things are already starting to get a little cold. Usually in October it can get to about 32F or 0C by night time so its important to keep that in mind when choosing a costume. 

All of this being said, this is probably the first time in many years that I have actually worn a costume, I have never been much of a fan of Halloween, but my girlfriend convinced me to play along and it was a lot of fun!

Leaves are falling...so are temperatures

Tyler, Tamryn and I decided to take a drive up to Holy Hill, which is a beautiful place to see the leaves changing. Here are a few of our pictures...

Tyler and I

So pretty

The sun started setting

Part of the church

Stain glass windows

My TyTy

More sunset

Pretty trees, with amazing leaves

Love the colours

The arch on the way to Holy Hill

The columns of the church

Re-State-ing the facts :)

The final count :)

Alabama	Alaska	Arizona	Arkansas
California	Colorado	Connecticut	Delaware
Florida	Georgia	Hawaii	Idaho
Illinois	Indiana	Iowa	Kansas
Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine	Maryland
Massachusetts	Michigan	Minnesota	Mississippi
Missouri	Montana	Nebraska	Nevada
New Hampshire	New Jersey	New Mexico	New York
North Carolina	North Dakota	Ohio	Oklahoma
Oregon	Pennsylvania	Rhode Island	South Carolina
South Dakota	Tennessee	Texas	Utah
Vermont	Virginia	Washington	West Virginia
Wisconsin	Wyoming

My NEW official count is 41/50...now that's what I'm talking about! (Although I would prefer an A) ;)

Unmotivated Days...

So I have a TON of blogging to catch up on...

and I promise to keep on but for now this is keeping me going and what I'm sticking to...