Life In Our World…

December 5, 2011

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Every once in a while, it’s necessary to take a break.

For your sanity, for your family, for yourself.

I didn’t plan on taking a break, but it turns out that it was a necessary thing. I’m trying to keep the computer closed between the hours of 3-8 p.m. which, I have found out, is my most productive time of the day.

Hence, no blog posts going up.

I thought I’d let you know what we have been up to.

My dear friend Nicole brought her family back to Tucson for a few days, and we were able to get some girl time in.

Ignore that messy counter. We’re making memories. 

Jack decided that life around the house was a little boring, so while he was feeding Billy, he threw a mealworm up.

Yes, up.

Onto the ceiling fan. Where it stuck.

Until it fell.

Yup. I can’t even make that up.

I went out on a rare lunch date with some of my best and oldest friends (they’re not old, our friendships are). It was the best birthday gift ever!

Our amazing server wasn’t an amazing photographer, so please pardon the crazy colors. Tucson doesn’t normally have lime green trees :)

Well, maybe my new iPhone4S was the best.

No… they’re tied.

We have been eating artichokes like crazy. With the amazing recipe from The Killer Griller, we have grown to love artichokes during the past few months. Yes, right in time for them to go out of season. But next year, we are ordering a case of them from Ocean Mist Farms right at the beginning of the artichoke season – They seem to have the absolute best artichokes.

Jack and his mini-artichoke. We thought he would love it, and he did. Can can easily eat an entire huge artichoke by himself!

In other news, Michael declared that he wanted a megaphone for Christmas.

Shortly after, Jack decided he wanted one, as well.

Anyone who thinks it’s funny and buys my kids a megaphone for Christmas will be getting nightly midnight visits from me and the megaphone – in person or by telephone.

Also on the Christmas list?

An ATV, an airsoft grenade launcher, and a new iPod touch.

Hmmm…. The list gets smaller as they get older, but it gets more expensive.

And a little crazier.

Oh… Grandma Teetsie came to visit!!!

We got some girl time in while the boys were at school, and Grandma got some much needed spoiling in.

And Jack. He was hamming it up for her.

Michael even got to take a half day off of school and go to lunch with us :)

In other fun news, Jack called our neighbor a vampire.

To her face.

In her defense, she doesn’t look like a vampire. And she doesn’t act like a vampire.

Jack will just do anything for a laugh. Apparently, we are still needing to discuss appropriate and inappropriate things to say to adults.

I know I’ve said it before, but just to be clear.

Michael? NEVER called an adult a vampire.

Or threw mealworms onto the ceiling fan.

Or threw a football really hard in the garage, breaking 7 of Steve’s 30ish Hard Rock shot glasses that he has been collecting for 18 years.

It’s been a crazy few weeks, friends.

The boys have been playing with the Grinch Cam app. Have you seen it? It’s totally worth .99 while the kids are waiting at a restaurant.

The boys have been asking me to lie down with them at night when they go to bed, and knowing that these times are coming to an end before I know it, I’m not saying no.

I’m spending as much time with them as I can, and thinking a lot about where the blog will be when they get to an age where they don’t want me blogging about them anymore.

I realized this fall that I have been missing a lot of time with the boys while I have been blogging about them, and that’s not what any Mom wants. There has to be a balance somewhere, and I’m looking for it.

So, please be patient with me while I over-post one month and under-post the next. I have an almost finished story about the auto show last month and how fun that was for me – a Mom who blogs about her boys. You’ll see that soon. I’m also over here at Dinner Tool a few times a month, and find that sharing facebook status updates are sometimes easier than full blog posts.

Don’t worry – The blog is sticking around, and will still be family-focused, but I’m thinking about adding a little more about the entire family. More recipes that we love and fitness, maybe? I was just accepted as a FitFluential Ambassador and am getting lots of post ideas from other ambassadors. Our life has changed a lot since Our Crazy Boys began in 2009, and I want to make sure to represent that as well as share all of the fun things that are going on out here in the desert.

All bloggers evaluate their blogs every few years, and I guess it’s just my turn!

In addition to the funny stories about the boys and the crazy things they do, what would you like to see more of? Less of? I’m sure we can all come to a compromise ;)

Can I thank you all enough for the kind comments on my last post? You have made me smile :)

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Thank you.

November 22, 2011

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I have had this little space among trillions of other websites for almost three years, and I can’t even believe it.

I can’t believe that you still come read my posts, even as I have been branching out from the boys for a bit lately.

I’m stunned that you have enough to say that you take time out of your day to leave a comment. I read each and every one and try to respond to as many as possible.

I am beyond grateful when you take the time to link to one of my posts on facebook or twitter, and completely blown away when you feature me on your blog.

For those of you who read religiously but never comment, you make me smile inside and out every time I hear, “I saw that on your blog.” You may not comment, but I know you are there because every few months I look at my pageviews and my jaw drops. Every. single. time.

Not because my numbers are anywhere near other bloggers, but because all of you clicked over to see if there was anything new here. And to me, that is astounding.

I consider every piece of advice you give, and can’t wrap my brain around the experiences this blog has given me.

I can’t thank my dear friends Suzanne or Darcie enough for talking me into starting a blog and giving me the idea to make it public.

I am also thankful for my amazing family who hasn’t kicked me and my laptop out on the corner yet, though I know the thought has crossed their minds.

So, though you may be thinking “she’s not talking to me, this is only my first time here” or “oh, she must mean so-and-so because I only come by once a month” or whatever else you’re thinking, know that I am talking to YOU.

Thank you. Thank you SO much.

I hope your holiday weekend is wonderful and restful!

 

{ 15 comments }

High-Low Game

November 20, 2011

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Have you ever played High-Low?

Each person in a group tells the high and low of their day, which always makes the low seem a lot less “low.”

Did that make any sense?

Now that I’m back (and almost recovered) from my 48-hour trip to Los Angeles, I thought it would be fun to play high-low with you. Only, there are a lot of highs and not many lows. And I’m including many pictures, because I took about 400 of them in my two days. So I guess I’m changing the rules a little.

I can. It’s my blog.

High #1.

That is all I have to say about that.

High #2.

I got to hang with my dear friend Amy and the wonderful Lisa from GMC. They’re both awesome :)

High #3.

We also got to hang with Joe. He’s hilarious.

He even ate Snickers Steak since we couldn’t find him a Hash House to get Snickers pancakes.

Ok, maybe he didn’t eat it, but it did come in contact with his steak. That counts in my book.

High #4.

Amy and I were able to meet some amazing local bloggers like Suz and Michelle. Suz even put a name to the “skinny arm pose” which, by looking at the rest of the photos in this post, I need to practice a little more.

High #5.

Dinner with Eric and Carter from the GMC Trade Secrets series. And not “dinner” like we ate in the same room and posed for a photo or two” but dinner. Like, Carter sat next to me and I stupidly ordered arugula salad and then thought “you can’t eat that in front of Carter Oosterhouse! You’ll have arugula in your teeth and look stupid in front of a famous person!” dinner.

Yup. This is about the time when I thought about my appetizer choice… listening to Michelle and thinking how smart she was for ordering tuna. 

Can I tell you how great these guys are? The night was full of great conversation, amazing wine (so I was told), and lots of laughs. Carter tells some funny stories. By the end of the evening, I had forgotten that they were famous. That’s how fun (and down to earth) they were.

My funny story for the night? Even though there was a professional photographer at our dinner, I had to get an iPhone photo for Grandma Teetsie, who was so excited that she couldn’t sleep that night. As I went to put my arm around Carter for the photo, I touched his butt. ACCIDENTALLY. Someone else may have ignored that and smiled for the picture. Me? I couldn’t ignore it. I said, “I totally didn’t mean to touch your butt. I promise.”

I was a little bit mortified.

Moving on.

High #6.

As a mom of boys (or Dude Mom Lifer, as Amanda says…), this was definitely a high. The Hot Wheels Camaro. The paint job? Cost more than the car.

It was so shiny. And pretty. I took way more photos of it than I should have.

My low?

The only one?

Missing these guys and their Dad:

Even if Jack thinks it’s hilarious to do this in all the photos I try to take of him recently:

I still missed them :)

I had more fun than I thought possible at the L.A. Auto Show. I’ll share more photos and fun car facts later this week!

My dear friend Amanda was kind enough to feature my boys and I today on her blog. You can check it out here. And you should poke around a little, because she’s hilarious!  

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I’m still alive. I promise.

November 15, 2011

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My ten excuses for not blogging in a week:

1. My computer has been in the shop since the 7th. I’m crossing my fingers that it has been fixed for good, because it was pretty sick.

2. I haven’t been feeling so great. I found out recently that I can’t eat wheat and to be honest, it gets tiring trying to plan family meals where I’m not preparing an entire separate one for myself. Also, it’ll take me a while to get into a routine of thinking “will this make me sick?” before I eat something. In the picture above, that’s me with my dear friends. I’m drinking a beer. Which is made with wheat. I didn’t even think about it until I began to get sick after I had finished two of them.

3. My computer has been in the shop since the 7th. Have you ever tried to lock yourself to a desktop computer when you have been blogging from your couch for the past three years?

4. There was an awful and completely freak accident close to our home last week that reminded me how important it is to spend time with friends and family rather than sitting at the computer. It’s good to be reminded of these things every so often, but I wish the reminder could come in the form of a tap on the shoulder instead of an unexpected death.

5. My computer has been in the shop since the 7th. I may have found it in me to blog from the couch after the boys went to bed, but again… The den. I just can’t do it. I’m a people person.

6. I’m heading to the LA Auto Show today and had nothing “LA-ish” in my closet. Can you imagine? So, I have been shopping responsibly piecing outfits together and thoughtfully purchasing only the necessary wardrobe accessories.

7. Have you ever been without your computer for a week? It’s almost as bad as being without your cell phone for a week. Thankfully, my iPhone has been with me.

8. Grandma Teetsie is coming to visit soon! I’m trying to plan a few fun things to do and make sure she gets lots of down time with the boys.

9. Yes, I AM going to mention my laptop again. How do people live without them? One whole week!

10. My last reason for not blogging for a week? Because I know that most of you also keep in touch with me on Twitter and Facebook, so you wouldn’t worry about me ;)

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I’m leaving today to meet up with some amazing people from GMC at the LA Auto Show. You can follow my trip on Twitter and Facebook!

And one last thing… Have you entered my Shutterfly photo card giveaway yet?

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It’s that time of year again… {a @Shutterfly giveaway!}

November 8, 2011

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Update: Congrats to Jenn, Francine, and Molly!! I’ll be in touch to send you your code for 25 free Shutterfly photo cards!

The Christmas portrait time of year!

I will admit that I’m a little stumped this year.

We have done the cactus:

and the big smiles:

We have done the Christmas carol reference (with the boys faking sleep):

and the elves (there’s no way I’ll be able to do that again with a middle-schooler):

Last year, we almost used this card:

but after winning Amanda’s photo contest, we decided to use some of the winning pictures instead:

This year, I’m stuck.

Moody 6th grader meets hyperactive 1st grader?

Should I look to Diary of a Wimpy Kid for some ideas? The Heffley family is quite similar to ours lately.

One thing that has stayed consistent is that every year, we have ordered our Christmas cards through Shutterfly.

There are several designs that I have fallen in love with this year, but I’ll wait to share :)

Not only do we use Shutterfly for our holiday cards, but we also use them for photo gifts, such as our famous (in the family) cookbook. I *might* be getting a second volume together for this year. Funny, because our eating habits have changed a whole lot since the first edition!

After the pool fiasco of 2008 (oh, that’s another post all together) we heavily relied on friends to help us finish our pool. When it was complete, we wanted to thank everyone. Shutterfly’s photo cards were the best way for us to share the news (and photos!) with everyone who helped us.

Fun fact: These photos were taken in December over three days. One day the pool wasn’t heated!

Dying to order your holiday cards yet? I am giving away three sets of 25 personalized photo cards from Shutterfly.

To enter, leave me a comment and tell me your favorite holiday card story. Mine would have to be when we took photos near the cacti (I hate saying that – cactus as a plural sounds so much better, I think). Michael almost strangled Jack while trying to keep him sitting, and Jack was only concentrating on the fruit snacks that Michael was holding in his hand – which was closed tightly to avoid being in the picture. And what mother takes her 5 and 1 year old to a national park filled with sharp cacti?! Not my best Mom moment.

Go up and look at the photo now. I’ll wait a sec.

Moving on…

Three sets of 25 cards! I’ll choose three random winners next Friday evening, November 18th. You know the deal… whenever I pull the kids apart, get them safely tucked in their beds, and pull the ear plugs out of my ears. 8ish?

Good luck, friends!

I was provided with holiday photo cards in exchange for my post. If you’re a blogger and want in on this great deal, go visit Shutterfly and register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

As always, all opinions are my own. I’ve been shopping at Shutterfly since the boys were little for a reason ;)

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