A typical day looks like this...

Before breakfast in the morning..


The second we get out of the car from school and work..


While I'm cooking dinner..

Before bedtime..



This crazy type of fun between brothers just never gets old.

Front Door Fall Decor.

I've been inspired.
We are celebrating fall.
Painted pumpkins.



Sunflowers on corn stalks.


Tonight I made acorns like these:

(This is not my picture. I forgot to take a picture of mine).
A hershey kiss, mini vanilla wafer, and peanut butter chip all glued together with peanut butter.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Such a sweet pic from the pumpkin patch.

Pretty vegetables.

Hi. I'm the Toolwoman and I have an addiction to Pumpkin Pickin'.
We visited a local farm this afternoon so we're now the proud owners of five goofy looking pumpkins, three normal, and five tiny pumpkins. We had intentions of only bringing home a few, but now I'm all set to decorate the front porch. The farm owners told us to protect them from frost and not to get nicks in them in order to preserve them.
In addition, I'll be using this fun tip from pinterest.com to protect them from mold.

Use silica gel packets to keep pumpkins/gourds from molding.
(I've been pinning a lot lately since pinterest is my other latest addiction). SO.MUCH.FUN!

Look how much the Wild Thing has grown!



His teachers tell me that he is well behaved and QUIET in school. This blows my mind and makes me laugh. He's quite the actor, that one!

The Mini LOVES kindergarten. He enjoys writing and doing his homework. All of my anxieties have been put to rest. He's adjusted very well and has matured so much in just a few weeks. I eat lunch with him once a week which makes my day to see him in his element.

Funny Updates

I thought I would put some of the funny (and not so funny) things that have happened lately around our house. Most of these are Facebook statuses, but I wanted them documented here on the blog.

9/6/11 Two sick kids + two well kids = stick a fork in me! I'm fairly certain they loved being in charge. Supper consisted of a lunchable, Popsicle, and ice cream sandwich.

8/20/11 Has failed as a mother by not teaching the Wild Thing not to stick his head in toilet water to gain praise like we do swimming pools. Picture this: a Wild Thing grinning ear to ear..with water dripping from his head and down his face. Now picture the horrified look on the mom's face. It happened.

8/10/11 The Wild Thing completed his 3rd day of daycare/preschool. His teacher commented that he is "adjusting well" and described him as "very sweet". I'd agree with "adjusting well" since he waited until he got home to proudly display the stolen loot from his pockets. He did all of this while wearing a shirt that read "Everything I Know I Learned on the Street" with Sesame Street characters.

8/7/11 The Wild Thing starts daycare/preschool tomorrow. The goal..don't get kicked out. Tonight he threw a cookie and hit an employee at Academy Sports. We have our work cut out for us. I've warned his teacher. The flip side..even I was impressed with his arm. He nailed the poor guy right in the head. The guy standing next to him said "I'm glad that wasn't me and laughed". Sigh...this encouraged the Wild Thing.

8/1/11--We pulled off a birthday party for Grandaddy! He was completely surprised so it was a success. The sister and I asked our friends to send him birthday cards to keep the party going. He loved it all.
The Mini said "you're not old, you're just not as new as me".

Milestone: The Mini Goes to Kingergarten.

I wasn't sad until I picked up the book "Oh, The Places You'll Go" for my facebook post and then I read the note sent home by his sweet teacher.
She sent the parents a survival kit and poem that read:

You've dropped off your child, and as hard as you try, you may need this tissue for the tears in your eyes. Relax with some tea and soon you will find you can leave all of your worries behind. If you need a reminder of your little loved one, hold onto the cotton ball for the school day will soon be done. Here is a penny; it's for your thoughts. It's to remind you that I want to hear from you lots! Thanks for entrusting your child to me. I will do my very best every day to be your child's guide, in learning and exploring this bright, new world they've just stepped into!


Here's a few things I wanted to remember:
*The Mini wanted to take his lunch on the first day (he says he's going to everyday).
He took ramon noodles (I think it had something to do with the foldable spoon that went with the Thermos), a fruit cup, a go gurt, and a capris sun.
*He took a mozzarella stick and crackers for his snack.
*He walked in the classroom and asked Mrs. G if they could play trucks. She told him it was time to play with play dough at their desks and asked him if he could make a hand print.

*He wants the preschool to pick him up in the after school bus. (I'll be in the parking lot following the after school bus. :) HEY..before you call me a helicopter I just want to watch him get on the "bus" at least ONCE! Ha!
*He signed a kindergarten contract promising to attend school regularly and work hard. I forgot to take a picture of his signature. He'll be missing a few days next week for vacation, but we PROMISE not to miss much more than that or I have to visit the principal.
*Today I volunteered for an hour in a 2nd grade classroom and loved it! It helped me not having to leave so quickly.
*I think we're going to like this school.

Welcome Back Toolwoman.

HELLO??? Anyone still out there? It's been awhile, but if you are still with me after all these lonely days then I'll tell you all about my adventure with fixing the dishwasher.
I'm NO appliance expert, but it doesn't take a genius to see "this ain't right" so I called a repairman for some assistance.

He told me it would cost $215 because of the labor involved with replacing the heating element. He then went on to explain the difficulty in pulling out the dishwasher to replace the element. Apparently, I kept staring at him with a blank look waiting for the intensive labor part to reveal itself because "pulling the dishwasher all the way out" and "reaching from behind" did not seem worthy of my $215. It wasn't.

Thanks to my new friends at ehow.com this was fixed in a little over hour (including the time it took to pick up the part).
Full Disclosure: The Commander managed the water line, but the rest was all me.
The total cost: $29.99 and I offered myself better customer service than the overpriced repairman by vacuuming the years of funky build up behind the dishwasher. BONUS POINTS! Now I think a shopping trip is in order as payment for my new found appliance skills. :)

CHA CHING!

July 4th Extravaganza

Today has been a much needed lazy day. I finally downloaded my pictures from the 4th of July weekend and just caught myself grinning ear to ear as I was looking at them. We enjoyed several parties with friends and family. We spent Saturday with Butterbean, Solar, and Nanny. Doesn't she look cute with her pop sickle? Did y'all make homemade pop sickles when you were younger? I found these monster molds at TJ Maxx and they instantly reminded me of eating them when I was young. They were hit with the Minis too. I need to get extra molds because the recipe I used makes a lot, but I only have four molds.



Grandaddy did a great job preparing the food for a shrimp boil. OH it was good!


The Minis started swimming lessons at the Swim Ranch on the 4th.


Our lessons were rained out on the fourth, but the evening turned out great with mild temperatures so we went to some friends' house for another cookout and fireworks. I left my camera so there are no pictures to post, but we grilled burgers and enjoyed watching the fireworks.
We spent the rest of the week finishing up with swimming lessons. Both kids learned a lot and really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure if it would be worthwhile to send the Wild Thing, but it was. The most important thing I learned from it was to teach small kids to turn around and reach for the wall after jumping off the side. Most kids drown from falling off the side and don't know to turn around and grab the wall. You can bet we worked hard on that lesson.