Hey, I'm 28!

28 years old.  Why it feels like a huge leap over 27, I'm not sure.  Now I'm really in the countdown to 30, I guess.

Today is low key, but the past week or so has been a whirlwind of family time and that was really a great build up to my birthday.  Today, we'll be ordering pizza and celebrating with cheesecake (my favorite!).  John actually bought me a surprise present (I normally pick out something), so I'm excited to see what it is.

I feel so blessed this year.  I have a wonderful family, a beautiful house that I can call my own, a super cute dog who adores me unconditionally (even when I dress him in pajamas), and I'm finally learning to be content with who I am.  I give thanks for being able to spend my birthday with my family.  And thank you all who have sent birthday wishes my way!  I feel very loved!

PJs

Yes, I did this to our dog.  Yes, I realize that he looks emotionally damaged.  Yes, we all laughed hysterically.

We really do love Buster.

Home Again, Home Again

We are home!  We made the long drive(s) intact and the boys are fabulous travelers (they did both barf once each, but with all the driving we did, I don't think that's too terrible).  I have many pictures and stories to tell, but we've been up since 2:30 this morning and I'm flat out pooped.  We look forward to seeing more family for Thanksgiving tomorrow after a long night of sleep.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Hmm...

Aiden brought this piece of school work home today.  I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

Seeing as how everyone got a flattering designation except me, it makes me wonder how old Aiden thinks I am.  It sure gave me a good laugh though.

Excuse Me

Please excuse the lack of blogging for the past week and probably for the next week.  I'm preparing to head to Idaho to visit family for the first time in 15-20 years and this week is absolutely jam packed (apologies to anyone who sees me on Thursday or Friday - I will probably be frazzled beyond all reasoning).  It's a shorter trip than I would like, but I wanted to coincide with my dad's trip, so I will have to settle for just a few days.  On the upside, I get to drive a minivan for a week (it was more cost effective to have the rental car for a whole week) so I get to look really mom-like.

I am excited to take a little trip, but not all that excited about 8+ hours in a car.  And apparently family has decided to throw a huge potluck party and invite every relation in the area, so I get to see LOTS and LOTS of people.  I won't lie - it's a tad overwhelming.  So anyway, I'd appreciate prayers and good thoughts for safe travels there and back.  Word is we may encounter snow.  And yes, I have tire chains.

Super Wise

I had my first dentist appointment in four years (I'm afraid of dentists!), and I only went because I was having weird pain at the very back of my mouth.  Now I know why.

No, no root canals or abscesses or deep cavities.  I've grown extra wisdom teeth.  This is how the conversation with the dentist went:

Me: I have dull pain at the back of my gums here.
Dentist: That's because you have wisdom teeth that need to come out.
Me: I'm sorry?  I had my wisdom teeth removed when I was 12.
Dentist: Well, you've grown more.
Me: Did they miss a portion when they removed them?
Dentist: No, you've just grown extras. (He said this like it was the most normal thing in the world)

I guess on the bright side, I've only grown two extra.  He said it looks like one is just sitting inside the gums and not going anywhere, so it's possible they'll leave it alone.  But one is coming in at a weird angle (story of my teeth) and if they don't remove it soon, it will take out 1-2 other teeth, which would then need to be removed completely.  Since I would prefer to not lose two teeth due to a stupid extra wisdom tooth (excuse me, I'm a tad annoyed), I have a consultation with the oral surgeon during the 2nd week of December.

I do feel like I've already paid my dues regarding wisdom teeth and I shouldn't have to go through that surgery again (I didn't handle it well last time - lots of vomiting and problems with not being able to handle standard pain killers).  But I'm hoping it won't be as bad this time since maybe they'll just take out one.

All in all, my teeth look "awesome" for not having been to a dentist in four years and there's only a few touch ups (fixing two fillings and taking care of a tiny one that's starting) that need to be done.  Even though I fear going to the dentist like crazy, I do feel like we've found a great office with a truly great staff.  Everyone always has a smile and willingness to laugh, and our entire family feels at ease during treatments.  Let's hope I feel the same amount of ease with the surgeon!

Sick Day

Aiden stayed home from school today due to a rather nasty cough, so he spent some time catching up on his extracurricular studying.  And in case you're wondering, yes he puts on a rather good game.

Buster Boo

John seems to be under the impression that our dog's legs work in an odd manner.

Unofficial Chef

I love to cook and bake.  And I mean: LOVE.  I find that taking basic ingredients, putting them all together, and having something new, delicious, and amazing come out of it is like art.  Art in the kitchen.  Art you can eat.  Mmm, eating.

While I definitely appreciate the beauty of food, I really like the taste of food.  I guess the term is "foodie", but I don't feel experienced enough in different cuisines to really call myself that.  Over the past few years, I've been getting much more adventurous in trying different things (both in eating and creating) and I find that sometimes I crave trying new food over eating something I know well.

I got out of the habit of "creating" for about two years while I was working (working and being a mom seemed to zap any creative energy that I had).  I stopped working just before summer and I tend to stick with simple meals over the summer months (mostly from being busy and feeling too warm to cook), so it's just recently been since it started feeling like fall again that my chef side has made a full comeback.

I've been obsessed with baking/cooking blogs, I spend hours on weekly meal plans, and I've been spending more and more time in the kitchen each week.  Oddly enough, I've been keeping up on cleaning my kitchen much better now that I'm cooking a lot, and that's mostly because if I DON'T wash those dishes and clean off the counter, I won't have any dishes or space to cook more food.  It's a strange little motivator, but it works.  And not only am I developing (or re-developing as it were) my love of cooking, but we're eating healthy meals together as a family 1-2 times per day, the boys are discovering their own love of cooking, I'm keeping a better handle on our grocery budget by meal planning every week, and we've essentially stopped eating fast food.  Home cooking isn't just comforting - it's healthy for everyone and good for the budget!

Gaming

We bought a Wii about two years ago, mostly for John and I.  We knew that it was a more little kid friendly system than others and that definitely made it appealing, even though the boys were still a tad too young to really figure out the hand motions needed to play anything.  We haven't invested in too many additional games for it because quite honestly, the Wii Sports that comes with it gives us tons of entertainment.  Although I won't lie; I do really want the Lego Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean games.  Who can resist cute little Lego Johnny Depp?!

Anyway, back to the boys.  Aiden learned how to play Wii bowling a while back, but has only recently hit his stride with it.  He's quite good and is on track to go "pro" pretty fast (he will happily tell you that it's his goal).  But in the past two days, Nathan has learned to play.  In the first few games they played, Nathan kicked Aiden's bottom big time.  It was hilarious, although Aiden didn't think so.  Funny enough, Aiden has gotten a LOT better since Nathan started playing.  Almost like losing to his three year old brother was a motivator....

Their games definitely aren't without occasional fights, but they love playing the game together.  And it's been a great activity for them to do when I need to cook dinner!

Costuming!

In case you weren't aware, I love Halloween.  I was going to say that I take Halloween very seriously, but that's not at all true.  I wasn't allowed to recognize Halloween for a very long time growing up because my mother believed that it was satanic.  Once I was old enough, I decided that it was only satanic if you made it that way.  For me, Halloween was a season for tons of fun and especially since I have kids now, I try to make it as fun as possible.  I'm definitely not one of those people who puts up dismembered limbs as decorations or watches scary/gory movies that are made for the season.  Halloween in our house means coming up with super silly decorations, carving funny faces into pumpkins (but we did choose one scary face this year), making yummy Halloween/fall foods, and choosing the perfect costume.  I think the boys get almost more excited about what MY costume is going to be than their own!  I've let them choose my costume for the past few years and they really enjoy getting to make the decisions for me.  I hope I can continue these Halloween traditions with Aiden and Nathan for many years to come (until they get too embarrassed to be seen with me).

 Ballerina mommy with Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

My costume!  And yes, I really did have all this just sitting in my closet.  Being able to still get up on pointe without breaking my ankles was a huge thrill for me, and my screwy knee held up just fine!