Gotta Get Down on Friday

TGIF!  This week was dragging and I'm not quite sure why.  Maybe because I thought Wednesday was Friday? This was a pretty slow week.

We got Mark's crocs from Zappos.  They are so darn cute. How cute? So cute that when Matthew saw them, he let out an "Awww.."

 I also got our Christmas cards in the mail. I bought a certificate from Groupon and got 40 cards for $19.  Not a bad deal.

Today, I will be going to the boys' school for 3 days straight. On Wednesday, I went over to put together their Wednesday folders. Yesterday, I was there to work at the Spirit Shop. On both days, I went to say "Hi" to the boys and on both days they asked why I was there if not to bring them lunch. I promised them lunch today since I will be at school again to make copies. I love having lunch with them, but I don't want to do it too often because then it's not as special.

The cold front blew in today and we have 50-degree weather! Finally it's starting to feel a little like Fall.   I bought about 80 pansies for our front flowerbeds, but it's too cold to start planting.  Besides, M will need to help and he doesn't get back until late this afternoon.

Mark has been waking up every 2 hours again at night. NOT fun. I hope it's just a phase.  He's never been a good sleeper, but he's been extra restless, even during his naps.

We don't have much planned for this weekend, but with the cooler weather, maybe I can convince M to take the kiddos to the Pumpkin Village in Dallas. We have so few nice outside weather days here that it seems a shame to waste any of them!

How can he say "no" to these cuties?!

What's Happenin'

It seems like time is going by so fast.  Can you believe that this is the last week of October?! And in less than 2 weeks, my little Mark turns 1 YEAR OLD! I have been so blessed to be able to stay home with him for most of his almost-one-year-old life.  And to see him grow up and discover new things everyday? Priceless.

I must confess that I'm a little behind on the Halloween thing.  Mark has a dragon costume that is size 18 months but it looks really big so we may have to scratch the dragon and go with something else.  I have not even started on the other 2 boys.  One wants to be a pirate which is easy enough, but the other wants to be a zombie. Not too happy about that decision so I'm trying to convince him to be something else. We have pumpkins, but we haven't carved them yet.  The boys haven't mentioned it, so I may be able to get away with not doing anything with the pumpkins.

Michael and Matthew have a Book Parade coming up on Oct. 31.  They haven't decided what they want to dress up as yet or what book they are going to bring for the parade. Why do I stress out about these silly little thing? 

Our weekend was another typical one with soccer for Michael and lacrosse for Matthew.  Michael's soccer team won 3-0, and Michael had some really beautiful passes to help his teammates score.  Matthew did really well at his lacrosse game.  This was the first time I've seen him put some real effort into playing.  He played awesome at defense and prevented a couple of point blank goals. Unfortunately, his team lost but I had a good time watching and cheering them on.  After the game, we went to lunch with the Hoppes (little Carter is on the Allen lacrosse team). It was really good to see them and catch up.  

I haven't posted very many pictures so here are some from the last few days.  Mark is walking like a pro and is actually starting to run!

He loves to be outside. And look at his little shoes! He loves to wear put hem on because that means he gets to go out and play.  M ordered him some orange crocs.  Can't wait to see them on him.

Running towards Mommy

Love his little pouty lips

He loves picking up acorns and bringing them to me

So happy to be out and ready to walk Big Brothers to the bus stop

Getting ready to walk to the bus stop last Friday morning. Love these boys!

The Weekend I Almost Died

We had sort of a crazy weekend here.  Everyone except M got some sort of stomach virus and it was not good. Fortunately, this nasty little virus only lasted 24ish hours. Matthew had it late Friday night. Mark, Michael and yours truly got it Sunday.  We kept Michael from school on Monday and the nurse called us to pick Matthew up early because he claimed he was dizzy. And on Monday, I thought I was going to die. This thing knocked me out.  I was exhausted and every time I got up to walk a few feet, I felt like I had just climbed Mt. Everest.  OK, so I'm exaggerating a little.  Just a little.  But everyone is healthy and back to normal today. Hurray!

We did do stuff despite the fact that our house was a biohazard zone.  Before the sickness set in, we dropped Mark off at the Gs' and M and I took the boys to the Dragons' Homecoming game against  Richland. We had a great time - and oh my the mums! I've learned that in the South, these things are a status symbol for young ladies at homecoming.  The bigger your mum, the more bragging rights you earn.  And some of these things were ginormous! You hang them around the neck like sandwich boards. There were ones with twinkling lights, teddy bears, bells, and other trinkets you can think of. They can cost up to $1,000.  Craziness!

Anyway, Dragons' won by over 50 points.  Needless to say, the kids did not hang out with us.  They went off with their friends as soon as we found some seats.

On Saturday, we went to Plano for Michaels' soccer game.  He did well.  His team won 3-1.  We thought Matthew was over being sick, but he threw up while we were at the game.  Fortunately, there were big bushes behind where we were sitting so we just let him throw up in the bushes. We went to dinner at Maggianno's because it was close to 7 before the game ended and we thought maybe pasta would be good for Matthew's stomach.  Wrong!  He threw up in the car on our way home. M should thank me for keeping plastic bags in the diaper.

By Sunday, Matthew was well enough to play in his lacrosse game so we trekked all the way up to Prosper.  His team won their first game 3-1!  Matthew was not really into the game, but when his team scored, he was the first to celebrate.

And you know all about our Monday.  So here you have it - another wonderful weekend with the Fishers.

Dallas World Aquarium Field Trip

I spent most of my day yesterday with Michael on his class field trip to the Dallas World Aquarium - which wasn't a true aquarium.  I might be a little snobby because growing up, we had one of the world's best aquarium nearby - The Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It was a fun day. After the Aquarium, we met up with all the kids for lunch at a local park where the kids got to run around for a little bit until they had to get on the bus to get back to school.  I always love observing Michael interacting with the other kids.  It's interesting to see who sits with who and who plays with who.  Some things never change, I guess. The jocks, the nerds, and the in-betweens all formed.

Matthew had lacrosse practice later that evening.  It was pretty much a free for all since their regular coach was not there.  At the beginning of practice, we were asked to go to the center of the field to gather for a moment of silence for the Ledet family who lost 2 brothers and a father in a plane crash over the weekend.  They kids didn't really know what was going on, but I thought it was nice gesture.  I don't know the Ledets, but my heart goes out to them especially the mom.  To lose anyone in your family at any time is tragic, but to lose your husband and 2 children at the same time is unimaginable.

Pumpkin Village @ Dallas Arboretum

We had a wonderful time at the Dallas Arboretum yesterday!  What a perfect day for walking along the gardens! The weather was perfect and it was so beautiful over there.  I wish I can keep all my plants as health and pretty as they do over at the arboretum.

We started on our way a little later than I had planned so we got stuck in a bit of traffic. It took us a little over an hour to get there, but the kids did great on the ride there and Mark was asleep the whole time so the ride was not so bad.

I was amazed at all the pumpkins!  It was lined all along the flowerbeds, piled high around flower pots and bushes!  There were hundreds and maybe thousands of pumpkins all over, and that's not including all the beautiful, unique pumpkins in the Pumpkin Village!

The boys ran around and wrestled as we walked around so they got some energy out.  They also allowed me to take their pictures so that was a huge plus.  All around the arboretum, there were gorgeous glass Chihuly sculptures on display. Some of them were amazing.  My favorite was the carnival boat display-it was so colorful and fun. Amazing!

Mark loved walking around the Pumpkin village. It was a little difficult for him because they laid down wood chips the the ground was uneven, but he got the hang of it.  He loves to touch and pat the pumpkins.

Weekend Highs

We had a great weekend, and it's not even over yet.  Thanks to Christopher Columbus, the boys have today off to celebrate Columbus Day.  We started off today with picking up and some pre-cleaning for the cleaning ladies who, hopefully, will be coming today.  I helped the boys make their bed, tidy up their room, and put their clothes away.  They actually did very well.

I am enjoying a little quiet time with some coffee.  The boys are upstairs playing and Mark is down for his nap. Phew! I will be taking the boys to the Dallas Arboretum when it warms up a little (highs are suppose to be in the mid-60s).  We've never been there this time of year and it is suppose to have an award-winning Pumpkin Village thing going on, so I'm excited to see. I'm sure it will be beautiful.

Here are some highlights from this weekend:

FRIDAY

Friday night we dropped Mark off at the G-parents and then we went to dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. I took Matthew and Michael to the Dragon football game and they had a BLAST!  M had a soccer game so he couldn't come with us.  Boo! We arrived early because I wasn't sure about the parking situation.  The boys hung out with me until their friends showed up.  Then I was just there for snack money.  This is the great thing about Dragon football games - the whole community goes to it, not just high school students, but students from all over the city as well as parents! It's just so much fun and there's so much pride in being a part of the community.  I had so much fun watching my two boys be part of the camaraderie.

Matthew enjoying his salmon roll

Michael and his cucumber rolls

Waiting for friends to show up

Here are some of them

One of the things I noticed was that the boys wanted nothing to do with the girls at this age, with a few exceptions of boys who were a little more mature. The group of boys hung and played along the rails separating the field from the seats.  Once in a awhile, a group of girls would venture down to see them. They would then walk away once they realized that they were not being acknowledge to their liking.  This happened 3 or 4 times. Hilarious!

SATURDAY
On Saturday, we started our morning at the Fall Festival, and then we hurried home for lunch before we had to drive over an hour to Michael's soccer game in Plano.  His team did so well!  They won 4-0 so they are still undefeated after 4 games.  So proud of Michael and his team.  It was a cold, cold day, but Mark did great wearing his cold weather gear.  I was a little afraid that he wouldn't want a hat or a jacket, but he did great and didn't even try to pull anything off as long as it was not in his face.  He had a good time playing with Daddy too.

 Then I got a picture of this little guy from my brother.  What a cutie!

SUNDAY
We did very little and just hung out around the house until it was time to take M to the airport.  When we got back, the boys went to play at a friends house and Mark and I hung out.  Then we bundled up for the cold weather and walked over to pick Michael and Matthew up from their playdate so we can get Michael ready for his soccer practice.  Practice did not end until 7:30, so we decided to pick up Subway for dinner on our way home.  It was a busy day!

Fall Festival

I've noticed that I use a lot of exclamation points in my post titles so I refrained this time. We had a wonderful, but very busy day today.  Thanks to whoever invented the crockpot because without, we may not have had dinner.  I'm also giving myself credit for thinking to use it today.

Our morning started off early this morning with a trip to our local Calloway Nursery.  They hosted a Fall Festival with lots of things for kids to do for FREE! Well sort of-I will be heading out to buy some flowers there tomorrow and will be spending money, so it's really not free. I've forgotten what a neat place it is.  All their flowers and plants were beautiful, much better quality than Home Depot or Lowe's.   A little more pricey, but I got a $5 credit from them for my birthday.

Anyway, back to the Fall Festival.  Matthew and Michael got to decorate pumpkins, plant grass and lettuce, and they got to pot a pansy plant to take home.  They had a blast and I got some really great pictures out of it. The only thing that could have made it better was if the weather was a little warmer, but but the cold sure made it feel like it was October!

Marky was very interested in all the different pumpkins and squashes.  He kept wanting to touch everything.  He was walking around looking at all the different piles.

This was the best picture I can get of all three.

I want this one!

Pumpkin decorating

Walking around with Daddy

What's that?

You mean, there are white pumpkins?

Decorated pumpkins

 Planting seeds

Mark wants in...

But he's too short!

Decorating pots for the pansies

Michael chose a white one

Matthew chose a pink one