Wigging out

My Father-In-Law found this wig. Addison thought it was awesome! She actually wore it for a solid 20 minutes before we left after visiting. I think she looks so cute! I can't wait for her hair to grow and so I can curl it and make it pretty. Of course, long hair on a baby like her looks ridiculous. I'll wait for her to be at least 3 before I start courses of Rogaine.

The Bucket List

The Bucket List. Place an X by all the things you've done and remove the X from the ones you have not

Things you have done during your lifetime:
(X) Gone on a blind date
(X) Donated Blood
(X) Skipped school
(X) Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
(X) Been to Mexico
(X) Been to Florida
(X) Been to Hawaii
(X) Been on a plane
( ) Been on a helicopter
(X) Been lost
(X) Gone to Washington, DC
( ) Hugged a homeless person
(X) Swam in the ocean
( ) Swam with Stingrays
( ) Been sailing in the ocean
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
(X) Played cops and robbers
(X) Recently colored with crayons
( ) Ran a marathon
(X) Sang Karaoke
(X) Volunteered at a soup kitchen
( ) Paid for a meal with coins only
( ) Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
( ) Seen the Northern Lights
(X) Been Parasailing
(X) Been on TV (you probably saw me in the crowd of the David Letterman Show... I don't know!:)
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't (like- everyday!)
(X) Made prank phone calls (stupid caller ID's now make this fun prank obsolete!)
( ) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
(X) Fed an elephant
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
( ) Fired a gun
(X) Been to the Opera
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
(X) Serenaded someone
( ) Seen a U.S.President in person
(X) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone
( ) Driven a race car
(X) Been to a National Museum
(X) Been to a Wax Museum
( ) Eaten caviar
(X) Blown bubbles
(X) Gone ice-skating
(X) Gone to the movies
( ) Been deep sea fishing
( ) Driven across the United States
( ) Been in a hot air balloon
( ) Been sky diving
(X) Gone snowmobiling
( ) Lived in more than one country
(X) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(X) Seen a falling star and made a wish
(X) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
(X) Seen the Grand Canyon
(X) Seen the Statue of Liberty
( ) Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
(X) Been on a cruise (a day cruise in Mexico...)
(X) Traveled by train
(X) Traveled by motorcycle
(X) Been horse back riding
(X) Ridden on a San Francisco cable car
(X) Been to Disneyland OR Disney World
(X) Been in a rain forest (it was raining while I was in Muir Woods... does that count?
(X) Seen whales in the ocean
( ) Been to Niagara Falls (dang, mom just was there. Wish I went!)
(X) Ridden on an elephant (when I was little, at the zoo.)
( ) Swam with dolphins
(X) Been to the Olympics (a metal ceremony)
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Saw and heard a glacier calf
( ) Been spinnaker flying
(X) Been water-skiing
(X) Been snow-skiing
( ) Been to Westminster Abbey
( ) Been to the Louvre
( ) Swam in the Mediterranean
(X) Been to a Major League Baseball game (Jason and I try to go to one in every city that we go to that has a MLB team. So, several.)
( ) Been to a National Football League game
( ) Swam with sharks
(X) Been White Water Rafting
( ) Written a book or screen play

Addison Michealangelo

Her first mural. It's no Sistine Chapel, but hey. She must have been thinking about spiders as she was drawing. That, or "Oooo- this is really fun!" She won't be thinking fun if I catch her doing it. She knows she'd get a hand slap. That sly little girl. Thank goodness it was only pencil. I have tried to keep all the crayons and markers locked away. I never appreciated how great of a kid Brendan was until she was born. He NEVER did this kind of stuff. I guess she is just showing her individuality. She's a handful, that one! At least she's a beautiful handful.

This blog is quickly becoming the spider blog

Jason found this beauty while doing yard work. It was OUTSIDE this time. She is bigger than a quarter and all that fuzz on her back? BABY SPIDERS! Wolf spider mama. If you shake the jar 100's of babies scurry around and then climb back onto her back. Brendan took her for show and tell today. Tomorrow mama has something else coming. Jason is taking her to the lab to freeze her in liquid nitrogen. Just for fun. Please don't tell PETA. At least he won't be wearing a meat lab coat while doing it.

A beautiful Labor Day

Last night as we were lying in bed Brendan came up with an idea to go to the park. He had school off for Labor Day you know and so "we should do something awesome!" "And I want (cousin)Brady to come with us! And I think Addison will have a really good time, don't you? And maybe we could take snacks. No, we should go around lunchtime so we can pack a lunch so we can have a picnic. And I want to go to that park with the big castle slide and all the wood. I think we might have to shoosh away the seagulls when we eat our picnic. Mom, don't you think this is a great idea? In the morning I'll make sure that the wind isn't blowing."

Me: "Slow down there turbo! Buddy, that is awesome. But if you don't go to sleep we will be to tired to go anywhere."

I swear if I could bottle and sell my six-soon-to-be-seven year old's energy I'd be a zillionaire. I'd share, of course.

Just relaxing in the swing. Too bad she didn't like the one when she was an infant!

I ordered the color of the sky to match Addy's eyes today.

I would like you to note the black and blue all over Brendan's shins. This is not dirt. These are more school playground injuries. It's just a good thing they didn't require more stiches. I told him he is banned from recess. He just looked at me and said "No way."

They can check in anytime they like...

Welcome to the hotel for spiders. We are finally starting to utilize our basement more. For some reason we have previously just used it as a huge junk-catch-all. I am still needing to paint my sewing room and Brendan has occupied the whole family room down there for his toys. One of the rooms down there we would just throw in our luggage, boxes from electronics that Jason must keep for over a year, old books, scrapbooks, camping stuff, baby stuff... everything! I have cleared that room out now for the kids toy room. Jason okayed the box removal several months early. For some reason this room in particular gets so many spiders! Is it because they love junk? We went and bought some traps and in a few weeks this is what all four of them looked like. I told Jason that many may have escaped for the mere fact that they ran over the top of the dead ones.

Brendan's take: "Mom, that's just creepy!"