And we're back!

And we've missed much! The kids haven't stopped being funny or insightful or clever for one second. I somehow just stopped writing about it.

But I'm not going to get into that here. (I did get into that here if you care. If you don't, then read on.)

Part of me knows I needed the break. But another part of me is sad that I missed out on nearly 6 months of kidisms. Things that I swore I wasn't going to forget, that I'd write down, to catalog to be remembered for eternity.

But I'm a mom. I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning. So, much is lost in void that is my mommy brain.

I do remember clearly Adam's first day of kindergarten.

Too bad I have no pictures. That's right. I walked him to school, snapping pictures all the way. Only to get home and find out I had no memory card in my camera. Tears were the result (and not the "oh my baby is growing up" kind of tears, either.)

And I do remember this precious little gem from Mike's birthday earlier in the month.

I overheard Adam giving Zoey the following rundown.

"We have to do whatever daddy says today because it is his birthday. And whoever's birthday it is is in charge that day. But when it's nobody's birthday mom is in charge."

Glad he knows how things work around here.

Modern Princess

Adam and Zoey are playing princess. Well, Zoey is playing princess and is trying to convince Adam to be the knight that comes and saves her. He finally concedes and comes riding up on his valiant steed and says in his most knighly voice "I am here to rescue you princess"

Her response? "Just a second, my phone is ringing."

I can only imagine she is video conferencing in all her best princess buddies so they can see her brave knight in action.

Brand Conscious

On Saturday I bought Adam a new pair of shoes. He needed dress shoes but Famous Footwear was having their buy one get one half off sale so of course I offered to buy him a pair of tennis shoes, too. He is starting school next month and will need them.

So, of course he picks out a pair of Sketchers that have lights that blink. I tried to talk him into a different, less ostentatious pair, but this was love at first sight. I'm too cheap to buy brand name shoes for my kids when they grow out of them in 6-8 months. But I was getting them half off and I also had a $10 voucher from their rewards program. So it brought the fancy shoes down into a price range I could stomach.

The next day I heard him call to Zoey, "I'll be right out. I just need to put my Sketchers on." I was taken aback. While shoe shopping the day before the word Sketcher had never been said. I merely called them tennis shoes. So how did he know they were Sketchers? So I asked him.

Of course he looked at my completely dumbfounded and in his very best "duh mom" voice he said "Because they have a big S on them mom." I think he may have even rolled his eyes at me.

But this did not clear things up for me, since the only television he watches is PBS. So whatever his exposure to the Sketcher's S logo it was limited. And yet he still knew that his shoes were Sketchers. And he's only 5.

Damn, those marketing people are good!

Flashback Friday

I decided to do Flashback Friday over here today because I realized I never showed off my kids Halloween costumes. Yes-Halloween in June. Because I worked so stinkin' hard on those costumes I need to make sure at least 2 other people see and appreciate them.

I have this thing with doing themed Halloween costumes, so all the kids are dressed in coordinating costumes that somehow relate to one another. Last year (2008) it was Monsters, Inc.

Are you ready for the cuteness? Do you think you can handle it?













Wow, what adorable kids! Nice lookin' costumes, too. Their mom must be really talented. (or have a grandma who is talented who helped out a lot.....you decide.)

It's important!

Adam just walked into the office where I'm working and said to me "Mom, I need to discuss something with Zoey. May I take her up to my room? It's important."

Because I have cute kids AND a new camera

I so don't have time for blogging today. But I'm dying to show off some of my pictures from our trip to NV.

We spent a day in Virginia City and there were just so many old things to take fun pictures of.

I was IN LOVE with this red brick wall. Amazing how something as simple as a wall can make me so very happy.











And this car graveyard was so photogenic.











And this was just funny to me.






And because she's so gosh darn cute!

Excited with a side of skepticism

About a month ago I got an email that basically said hey you have a great blog and we would like you to tell your readers all about our blog. At first I was like wow! Somebody likes my blog. And then reality set in and I realized my blog likely met some keyword search critera and that nobody actually READ my blog before sending me that email. Because well, as loyal my followers are (thanks for that, by the way) there are barely a handful of you. In other words, I'm hardly what you could call and influential blogger.

A few days later I got yet another email requesting that I promote a website and this time I didn't let it go quite so much to my head.

So you can imagine the skepticism I felt when I received the following comment on my blog.

Congratulations!

Your blog has been nominated for the 2009 Utah Baby Guide Blog Contest. The blog that gets the most votes wins! Voting ends June 30th, 2009.

Congratulations! You have a great blog!

Kindly,
Jessica Taufer
Editorial Director
Utah Baby Guide
j.taufer@utahbabyguide.com
http://www.utahbabyguide.com


Especially since I've had spam comments in the past. (before turning on word verification) Comments that served no other purpose than to get you to click over to somebody's insurance site.

My suspicion was furthered by the fact that my other blog also got the same comment. And when I've been spammed in the past both blogs got hit.

But finally my big head telling me "this one might actually be for real" got the best of me and I clicked to it.

It does look like a legitimate site. I think. And my Sister-in-law's two blogs are nominated in different categories which leads me to believe that maybe she nominated me (Thanks if you did!!!!) Or maybe she didn't. Who knows.

Her blog Orange World is nominated in the Discount/Giveaway Blog category. And her blog Orange You Special is nominated in the Product Blog category.

And so this is the part where I shamelessly beg for your vote. Because hey, it would be cool to win something! Plus you don't even have to register. Simply email contest@utahbabyguide.com and tell us the web address of your favorite blog for each category before June 30, 2009.

This blog is nominated in the Funny Blog category

My other blog is nominated in the Personal Blogs category.

And I guess it would be nice if I told you their website. Because that's what a courteous blogger does, right?

So you can visit the Utah Baby Guide at, surprisingly enough, http://www.utahbabyguide.com/

I'll stop begging now. Since it's likely all really a hoax anyway. Thanks.